To what protection is an assaulted public official entitled to at work?

Verified 06 February 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)

If you are victim of assault as part of your work or if you are sued because of your professional activity, your employer administration must protect and assist you. This protection that your employer administration must provide is called functional protection. We present the conditions of its implementation.

You can benefit from the protection of your employer administration whether you are civil servant or contract worker.

If you are former public official (civil servant or contractor), you can benefit from the protection of the administration that employed you at the time of the facts in question.

Functional protection may also be granted by your employer's administration to your employer spouse, your partner of Civil partnerships: titleContent or your cohabiting partner, to your children and to your ascendants direct in the event ofwillful attacks on the integrity of their person because of your duties.

In case ofwillful interference with your life, functional protection may be granted by your employer's administration to your Civil partnership, partner or common-law partner who initiates legal proceedings.

In the event of a deliberate attack on your life and in the absence of action by your Civil partnership, partner or cohabiting partner, functional protection may be granted by your employer administration to your children or your ascendants who initiate legal action.

You can benefit from the functional protection of your employer administration if you are the victim of an assault in the course of your duties or if you are prosecuted because of your professional activity.

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Victim of assault

You can benefit from the functional protection of your employer administration if you are victim of an assault in the course of your duties.

You can thus benefit from functional protection in the following situations:

This list is not exhaustive.

Aggression can occur during or outside your working time as long as the causal link between the damage caused and your duties is established.

You can benefit from functional protection if you are exposed to a proven risk willful injury to your physical integrity or life by reason of your status as a public official.

Functional protection may also be granted in the event ofdamage to your property (for example, if your vehicle is damaged).

To benefit from functional protection, you must not have committed personal misconduct.

There is personal fault in particular when the act of which you are accused corresponds to one of the following situations:

  • You have committed this act outside of your working time and workplace
  • The act, although committed in the course of your duties, constitutes a particularly serious and inexcusable offense, for example acts of violence in the workplace
  • The act was committed for the satisfaction of a material or psychological personal interest, for example, embezzlement or the issuance of certificates of convenience
  • The act constitutes a gross misconduct. For example, an agent of a rescue center, in the course of his duties, borrows and drives a private vehicle, under the influence of an alcoholic state, to transport a patient.

The personal nature or otherwise of the fault shall be examined, where appropriate, by the judge in the light of the circumstances.

Agent sued for his professional activity

You can benefit from the functional protection of your employer administration if you are sued for a lack of service.

A fault of service is a fault committed in the performance of your duties, i.e. during service, with the means of service, and without any personal interest.

Functional protection is due to you whether you committed the offense intentionally or not.

You can thus benefit from functional protection in the following situations:

  • You are suedbefore the criminal or civil courts, for acts occurring in the course of your duties
  • You are heard as witness assisted for acts occurring in the course of your duties which a judge may consider to be an offense punishable by the penal code
  • You are placed in custody or you are offered a measurement of penal composition for acts which may constitute a criminal offense and which occurred in the course of your duties.

To benefit from functional protection, you must not have committed any personal fault.

There's personal fault in particular when the act of which you are accused corresponds to one of the following situations:

  • You have committed this act outside of your working time and workplace
  • The act, although committed in the course of your duties, constitutes a particularly serious and inexcusable offense, for example acts of violence in the workplace
  • The act was committed for the satisfaction of a material or psychological personal interest, for example, embezzlement or the issuance of certificates of convenience
  • The act constitutes a gross misconduct. For example, an agent of a rescue center, in the course of his duties, borrows and drives a private vehicle, under the influence of an alcoholic state, to transport a patient.

The personal nature or otherwise of the fault shall be examined, where appropriate, by the judge in the light of the circumstances.

Prevention and protection in the event of aggression

Your employer administration must prevent or take the adequate measures to stop the attacks of which you, or your relatives, are or could be a victim.

In addition, if your employer administration is informed of the existence of a manifest risk of serious injury to your physical integrity, it shall, without delay, and as a precautionary measure, appropriate emergency measures to put an end to this risk.

For example, in the case of online hate messages and content that nominally threatens an agent on social media or in the case of threats or any other act of intimidation against a public official.

These measures shall be implemented for the period strictly necessary for the cessation of the risk.

Legal assistance

In the event of an assault, your employer administration must make good the damage (economic, personal, material, physical, moral) that may result for you or your loved ones.

If you are subject to criminal prosecution for lack of service, your employer administration must grant you its protection.

In the event of a fault in service, your civil liability cannot be incurred.

If, however, you are sued by a third party for lack of service and if the court seised has not been declared incompetent, your employer administration must cover civil convictions against you.

Reminder

To benefit from functional protection, you must not have committed any personal fault.

If you take legal action as a result of an assault or if you are prosecuted for a misconduct of service, your employer administration covers all or part of your procedural costs.

You are free to choose your lawyer and organize your defense strategy.

Your employer administration can assist you in choosing a lawyer.

Your employer administration may enter into an agreement with the lawyer you have appointed or accepted and, possibly, with you.

The agreement determines the amount of fees paid by your administration.

It lays down the conditions under which other procedural costs are to be borne.

Your employer administration pays the lawyer directly for the costs provided for in the agreement.

In the absence of an agreement, the costs are paid directly to you upon presentation of invoices.

When your employer has compensated you or your relatives for the harm you have suffered, it can take legal action against the perpetrators of your assault in order to recover from them the reimbursement of the sums it has paid you.

To benefit from functional protection, you must apply for it in writing with your employer administration on the date of the facts in question.

Please note

At the National Education, the request for functional protection is made via the application Hummingbirds.

You must bring the proof of the facts for which you are requesting functional protection.

There is no text that imposes a time limit for requesting functional protection.

In case of refusal, your administration must inform you in writing. Your administration must tell you the reasons for its refusal and tell you the remedies and deadlines.

Failure to respond within 2 months of receipt of your request constitutes an implied decision to refuse.

The decision to grant functional protection is a decision creating rights. Thus, functional protection cannot be retroactively withdrawn more than 4 months after its signature, even if it turns out that you have committed a personal fault.

However, withdrawal is possible if the protection functional has been obtained by fraud.

Please note

On the other hand, functional protection can be repealed if it turns out that you have committed personal misconduct or if the facts relied on in support of the application for protection are not established.