Disputes between a sports teacher and a general director can set a precedent in the world of work. The Court of Cassation ruled on November 13 that calling the director a “scoundrel” did not justify dismissal.
The case, discovered by Le Figaro, occurred in 2020 and concerned a physical trainer on a football team. Assigned to the training center even though his contract included work with the first team, the physical trainer made derogatory comments about his director, elicited “behavior I would describe as ‘bastard'”, and threatened with reference to retaliation laws. In response, the employer carried out early termination of the employee’s fixed-term contract due to serious violations.
Serious violations are not flagged
What followed was a legal battle before the industrial relations tribunal, which the physical trainer took up and won, then the appeals court, which once again ruled in favor of the applicant.
Therefore, the employer appealed to the Court of Cassation, which is the last resort of the judicial body. In their decision on November 13, they found the physical trainer’s offensive statements to be true “excessive”, However, this was not a serious violation because it was only directed at the Director General and had not been disseminated beyond that. In the interest of fairness, serious misconduct excuses are not justified here.
The agency also assesses that the seriousness of offensive statements depends on the “context in which they occur” and whether they cause disruption to the company or not.
As social law lawyer Anne-Lise Castell-Barnel explains, “these facts constitute a mistake, but taken in context, they do not demonstrate serious wrongdoing by the employee. But in this case, because the employee was bound by a fixed-term contract, termination without serious misconduct is cruel.” Therefore, the Court of Cassation rejected the employer’s request and ordered him to pay 3,000 euros to the physical trainer.
