Court of Cassation, Social Chamber, 10 September 2025, No. 24-11.064

The payment of expenses or reimbursement of costs is a public policy obligation. Covering the expenses necessary for the performance of the employment contract or reimbursing those incurred by the employee on behalf of the company is, in effect, an extension of the payment of wages. The expenses incurred must be ‘for the purposes of the employee’s professional activity’ and “in the interest of the employer ” (Cass. soc., 5 July 2017, no. 15-29.424).

The regulations allow for several reimbursement options, including reimbursement of actual expenses upon presentation of supporting documents.

But when the employee does not provide any supporting documents for the alleged expenses, is the employer still required to reimburse their professional expenses?

In this case, an employee, hired as a breeding assistant, saw her last fixed-term employment contract expire in November 2022.

The employee brought the case before the Bourges labour court on 20 April 2023, requesting that her part-time contract be reclassified as a full-time contract and that her professional expenses be reimbursed.

In this case, the claim concerned the reimbursement of professional expenses related to taking a kitten into her home (food, hygiene and travel expenses to the vet). Her claim was dismissed at first instance and then on appeal on the grounds that she had not provided any supporting documents, and the employee appealed to the Court of Cassation. She criticised the judges for not checking with the employer, as she had requested, that she had had to use her personal vehicle on two occasions to take a cat to the vet, thereby incurring business expenses in the employer’s interest that should have been reimbursed to her.

However, the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal, pointing out that, in the absence of supporting documents provided by the employee to back up her request for reimbursement, it was not the responsibility of the labour court to investigate any expenses incurred. In other words, the burden of proof rests with the employee and, if no supporting documents are provided, the judge is not required to investigate the reality of the expenses claimed. The employer is therefore not obliged to pay these unjustified professional expenses.


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