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Roselyn Sands, of Paris law firm Proskauer Rose, examines the strict rules that French employers have to comply with before they can end an employee’s contract and how legal action can result if the company deviates from the established procedure
Under French labour law, the dismissal of any employee working under a French employment contract of undefined duration must be supported by a “real and serious cause” based on personal reasons or economic reasons. Moreover, the employer must comply with the procedural rules for a dismissal.
Substantive Rules for Dismissal
Following the employee’s trial period, dismissal of an employee must be justified. To satisfy the legal standard for a real and serious cause, the cause for dismissal must be:
- Objective, in that any grievance against the employee must be concretely verified
- Real, in that any reasons submitted by the employer in support of the termination must be established as fact
- Precise, in that the reasons submitted by the employer in support of the termination must correspond to the actual cause underlying the termination
- Sufficiently serious to justify a termination
A dismissal for personal reasons may be based on a variety of reasons, including insubordination, professional incompetence, acts of disloyalty or failure to observe rules of security.
A dismissal for economic grounds will only be justified based on serious economic difficulties of the company (and the group to which it belongs) or the necessity to restructure in order to maintain a competitive position if it is at risk.
Moreover, Article L 122-45 of the French Labour Code provides that an employee may not be sacked because of sexual orientation, moral opinions, family situation, appearances, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, trade union activities, political opinions or state of health.
Proced
