Can an employee be dismissed for reasons related to his or her private life?

This case concerns an employee acting as an internal auditor for a luxury brand. She discovers that he is married to a former collaborator engaged in legal proceedings against the company. She decides to dismiss this employee.

The business accuses him of having knowingly concealed his marital situation, which constitutes “a lack of integrity and probity, yet essential to the exercise of (his) duties”. It also invokes a clause in the employment contract and the code of ethics requiring employees to disclose any potential conflict of interest.

The employee refers the matter to the labor court. He seeks the annulment of his dismissal, which is based on an element of his personal life.

The labor court and then the appeal court rejected his request. For them, there was a “possible risk” of conflict of interest due to the marital relationship with a former employee engaged in legal proceedings with the company. The voluntary nature of the concealment could give rise to doubts as to the loyalty of the employee.

The employee appeals in cassation.

Is the failure to declare a marital relationship sufficient to characterize a breach of the duty of loyalty, leading to dismissal?

Public Service replies:

According to the Court of Cassation, the employee was not required to disclose his family situation. It recalls that, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 9 of the Civil Code and Article L.1121-1 of the Labor Code, the employee retains the right to privacy, even in the workplace.

Furthermore, in the Court’s view, the mere existence of a legal dispute between the employee’s wife and the employer is not sufficient to characterize a conflict of interest. The “possible risk of conflict of interest” identified by the Court of Appeal is not sufficient. It did not find that the employee’s marital status ‘was related to his duties and liable to affect their performance to the detriment of the interests of the company’.

For the Court of Cassation, an employee cannot be dismissed for reasons related to his private life, such as the identity of the person with whom he is married.