France: When there is no vitiated consent, moral harrassment does not nullify a mutually agreed termination
Collective mutually agreed termination (« rupture conventionnelle collective »), a method of termination of the employment contract in which employer and employee sign an agreement to terminate, later approved by the administration, has met with great success. To be valid, it is necessary to ensure the free and informed consent of each of the parties. This is not always the case when the employee has signed an agreement in a context of proven moral harassment. On this point, the French Supreme Court has already considered that it was necessary to cancel the termination agreement signed by an employee, who had found herself in a situation of moral violence due to harassment.
However, it is up to the employee to prove that the psychological harassment has vitiated his consent. Indeed, the existence of acts of moral harassment does not automatically entail the nullity of the termination agreement, as the French Supreme Court has just recalled.