Lawyer in Nice – Employment

The Issue of Redeployment in Economic Dismissals

In a judgment dated October 23, 2024 (n°23-19.629), the Social Chamber of the Court of Cassation ruled on an issue related to the redeployment procedure within the framework of an economic dismissal.

In this case, an employee was dismissed for economic reasons. As part of this procedure, the employer sent the employee a redeployment offer.

A few days later, the employee rejected this offer, and their dismissal was finalized.

However, considering that the dismissal lacked a genuine and serious cause due to the insufficient seriousness of the redeployment procedure, the employee filed a claim with the Labour Court.

The employee specifically reproached the employer for not providing enough details in the redeployment offer, as it neither mentioned the name of the company nor the classification of the proposed position.

The offer only stated that the employee would retain their seniority and receive a salary equivalent to their current one.

According to the employee, this lack of detail prevented them from being fully informed about the conditions of the offer.

The Court of Appeal upheld the employee’s argument, and the Court of Cassation confirmed this decision.

Indeed, Article D.1233-2-1 of the Labour Code requires the employer to include a precise list of mandatory details when making a redeployment offer.

If one or more of these details are missing, the offer is considered insufficiently serious, leading to the dismissal being deemed without a genuine and serious cause, even if the employee rejected the offer without requesting additional details.

This case law strengthens employers’ obligations, requiring them to scrupulously comply with the requirements set forth in Article D.1233-2-1 of the Labour Code when making a redeployment offer.

Maître DAMY, an expert in labor law, offers their expertise to defend your rights against your employer. We invite you to contact us for assistance.