OD FLASH | Reminder of the rules on the statute of limitations for wrongful acts and dismissal for real and serious cause of an employee who disseminated sexist messages in violation of internal regulations.

French Supreme Court, Social Division, June 4, 2025, No. 23-19.722

An employee was dismissed for real and serious cause. He brought an action before the labor court challenging the execution and termination of his employment contract and claiming various forms of compensation. On appeal, the real and serious cause for dismissal was upheld.

The employee then lodged an appeal before the French Supreme Court, based on two grounds.

In the first ground, he argued that no misconduct could give rise to disciplinary action if it had been known for more than two months by the employer, including the line manager, even if the latter had no disciplinary power and even if he himself had behaved improperly. The employee therefore considered that the facts were time-barred, as his line manager had been aware of them since March 2018 and the invitation to the preliminary interview was dated September 27, 2018. The employee added that the fact that two people had engaged in misconduct that differed in terms of timing and severity did not mean that they could be considered co-perpetrators. In this case, the acts alleged against the employee (crude jokes in March 2018) were distinct from those of his superior (sending pornographic content between October and December 2017). By treating them as equivalent, the Court of Appeal violated Article L. 1332-4 of the Labor Code.

On this point, the French Supreme Court considers that the Court of Appeal was able to infer that the employee’s line manager, having himself regularly sent messages of a sexual nature to his team (including a pornographic calendar), could not be considered an “employer” within the meaning of Article L. 1332-4 of the Labor Code, as he had an interest in concealing his own misconduct and that of the employee in order to avoid any sanctions. As the employer with disciplinary authority only became aware of these facts on September 18, 2018, the facts were not time-barred.

In the second ground of appeal, the employee criticizes the Court of Appeal for failing to take into account the overall context of the company, its practices, and the employee’s seniority in assessing the seriousness of the allegations against him. The fact that the court rejected as irrelevant the argument that the line manager regularly sent inappropriate messages and that this tone was common within the team constitutes a violation of Articles L. 1121-1 and L. 1232-1 of the Labor Code, according to the employee.

On this second point, the French Supreme Court considers that the dismissal of an employee who sent sexist messages accompanied by inappropriate photos to two colleagues from his work email address, thereby undermining their dignity and violating the company’s internal rules, constitutes real and serious grounds for dismissal in accordance with Article L. 1235-1 of the Labor Code. The French Supreme Court also points out that the assessment of real and serious cause for dismissal is, in principle, a matter for the trial judges.