PARIS, May 11 (Reuters) – The Court of Cassation ruled in an opinion on Wednesday that judges were required to apply the scale limiting industrial tribunal compensation in the event of unfair dismissal, introduced by the 2017 Labor Code reform , at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s first term.
This scale “is not contrary to (..) Convention No. 158 of the International Labor Organization” and “the French judge cannot rule out, even on a case-by-case basis, the application of the scale”, explains the Court in a press release.
This scale, one of the emblematic measures of the beginning of the first five-year term of the Head of State, set a framework for the compensation payable by the employer in the event of dismissal without real and serious cause to the industrial tribunal, by capping it at 20 months salary for a seniority of 29 years and more.
This system, which also lowered the minimum compensation for unfair dismissal to one month’s salary for one year’s seniority, came into force at the end of September 2017 by means of an ordinance, despite the challenge of many industrial tribunals. men as well as unions of employees and magistrates.
Validated by the Constitutional Council in March 2018, it has already been deemed to comply with European and international conventions in an opinion issued in July 2019 by the Court of Cassation.
Since the opinions of the Court of Cassation are not binding on the courts and courts of appeal, new challenges to this scale have been implemented and four appeals have been forwarded to the Court of Cassation.
Emmanuel Macron had made this compensation framework – intended to remove the brakes on hiring by increasing predictability for employers – one of the pillars of his reform of the Labor Code aimed at combating mass unemployment. (Written by Myriam Rivet, with contributions from Caroline Pailliez, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot)