The average compensation for a dismissal deemed unfair fell by 1.3 months from 7.9 months to 6.6, estimate two academics.
The conclusions are final. According to a study carried out by Camille Signoretto, lecturer in economics at the University of Paris and Raphaël Dalmasso, lecturer in law at the University of Lorraine, presented in Droit Social, employees who have been abusively dismissed receive lower compensation since the introduction of the “ Macron scale “. The average compensation for a dismissal deemed abusive has thus fallen by 1.3 months, from 7.9 months to 6.6, since September 2017.
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Entering into force at the end of September 2017, as part of the ordinances reforming the Labor Code, this cap on compensation applies in the event of dismissal without real and serious cause, depending on the employee’s seniority. Concretely, this means that judges can no longer set the amount of damages they want. This amount must not exceed the scales provided for by the ordinances except in the event of harassment, discrimination or even for violation of fundamental freedoms (such as, for example, freedom of expression). The purpose of setting up this scale was to make managers aware of the maximum risk they take when they hire and to encourage them to recruit.
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The maximum sum increases from 37.8 months to 20 months of salary
According to the study, while 50% of wrongfully dismissed plaintiffs received less than 6.5 months of salary before the introduction of the barometer, the median is now 6 months. It is above all the employees of companies with more than 11 employees who suffer from this new system. They go from 9.1 months of allowances before the reform to 7.6 today, while employees wrongfully dismissed from smaller companies have seen the average of their damages go from 5 to 4.2 months. But the biggest losers are those who have been in their company for between two and five years: they lose an average of 3.1 months in damages, according to the calculations of the two academics.
The maximum sum awarded by the judge has also decreased from 37.8 months to 20 months since September 2017. However, the minimum damages are a little higher: 0.6 months compared to 0.2 months before the introduction of the scale.
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Even if this new scale has come into effect, many industrial tribunals have set it aside and some appeal courts have even decided not to comply with it. The Court of Cassation must render a final decision on the merits on March 31.