France : judges open a path to circumvent the legal scale applicable to compensation for unfair dismissal

Several judges have objected to the implementation of a scale that caps the level of compensation an employer can be condemned to pay in the event of a dismissal judged to be without actual and serious basis. The measure is one of the most significant contained in French president Emmanuel Macron’s labour reform. The Court of Cassation appeared to have decided the debate, until the decision made by the appeal court in Reims on 25 September, the first of this kind taken by a court of appeal. While accepting the Court of Cassation’s reasoning, the appeal court raises doubts over the matter by opening up the possibility of the limit being applied on a case by case basis when an employee can prove that its application is harmful to them.