An employee benefits from an absolute protection against dismissal during her maternity leave and of a relative protection for six weeks before and ten weeks after.
If the employer dismisses the employee during these protected periods (without, for the period of relative protection demonstrating a gross misconduct or the impossibility of maintaining the employment contract) the dismissal is null and void. In such a case, the employee may in principle ask to be reinstated in the company, or alternatively to be paid damages of at least six months’ salary, to compensate for the unlawful nature of the dismissal.
For the first time, the French Supreme Court held that if the employee does not ask to be reinstated, she may nevertheless request payment of the wages which she was deprived of for the period during which she benefited from the protection against dismissal, in addition to the damages for the unlawful nature of the dismissal.
Cass . Soc. 6 November 2024, 23-14.706