France: Dismissing an Employee Who Initiates Legal Proceedings and/or Testifies in Favour of Another Employee can be Deemed Null and Void

An employee was dismissed for serious misconduct after having testified in favour of an ex-colleague and asked a lawyer to initiate proceedings, which aimed to change the company’s management. The Court of Appeal had held that the dismissal was justified as the employee had, in his testimony, revealed certain confidential information and had breached his obligation of loyalty to the company by taking part in proceedings against the company’s management.

The French Supreme Court ruled that a dismissal based on the fact that an employee had testified was necessarily null and void unless the testimony was made in bad faith i.e., it could be demonstrated that the employee knew that the content of his testimony was untrue.

The French Supreme Court also ruled that the fact that the dismissal letter referred to the employee’s request that a lawyer initiate proceeding should have led the judges to deduct that the dismissal was based on the employee’s intent to bring legal proceedings.

Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-House Counsel

Take care when drafting dismissal letters, when seeking to sanction violations of confidentiality or loyalty obligations, especially if employees have indicated that they have plans to take legal action and/or have testified in favour of other employees.