The French Court of Cassation confirms the validity of the indemnification scales without ending the lower courts’ rebellion
On the 17th July 2019, the French Court of Cassation has issued an official opinion (opinion No. 15013) in favour of the validity of the indemnification scales in case of wrongful dismissal (so-called “Macron scales” had been enacted shortly after E. Macron took office).
Despite being non-binding, the opinion is nonetheless supposed to provide the Court’s official position on the matter.
The Court first considered the scales were not infringing the European Social Charter, whose sect. 24 has no direct effect in France.
Furthermore, the Court considered the compensation provided by the scales as appropriate, with no infringement of I.L.O. (Int. Labour Office) Convention No. 158.
However, some rebellious Employment Courts already issued contrary decisions (Employm. Court of Grenoble, 22nd July 2019, case No. 18/00267) and held that the aforementioned opinion was indeed non-binding while in their case, the scales provided for insufficient compensation and had to be disregarded.
The Macron scales’ saga continues, as the Courts of Appeal will likely issue their decisions before the end of 2019.
