The French Supreme Court partially overturned a Court of Appeal decision concerning the dismissal of a driver employed by the RATP. He was dismissed after being found in possession of cannabis during a police control outside of working hours. The RATP justified this sanction by invoking damage to the company’s image.
The Court of Appeal had declared the dismissal null and void, considering that it infringed the employee’s fundamental right to privacy, and thus ordered his reinstatement along with the payment of wages he would have earned as from his dismissal.
The French Supreme Court overturned this decision and reminded an important distinction: although the facts at stake fell within the employee’s personal life, the dismissal based on those actions did not violate the intimacy of his private life.
The nullity of the dismissal was therefore excluded in the absence of violation of a fundamental right.
Ruling without referral, the Court reclassified the dismissal as unfair, thus rejected the reinstatement, and limited the amount of the damages to five months’ average salary.
(Cass. Soc., 25 September 2024, n°22-20.672)
