OD FLASH | Disciplinary dismissal and accountability for the facts

Cour de cassation, Chambre sociale, 10 décembre 2025, n° 23-15.305

In this case, an employee was dismissed on disciplinary grounds for fraudulent use of her professional electronic toll collection badge. However, it emerged during the proceedings that the fraudulent use of the badge had been acknowledged by the employee’s partner, without her knowledge. The employee brought the case before the court in order to have her dismissal declared null and void and to be reinstated.

The Court of Appeal declared the dismissal invalid on the grounds that the acts alleged against the employee were not personally attributable to her, which constituted a violation of the constitutional principle that “no one is punishable except for their own acts”.

The Court of Cassation partially overturned the appeal ruling. It pointed out that the constitutional principle of personal criminal responsibility, derived from Articles 8 and 9 of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, only applies to penalties imposed by criminal courts and to sanctions that are punitive in nature.

However, dismissal and disciplinary sanctions imposed by an employer in the context of an employment contract do not constitute sanctions of a punitive nature, but measures falling within the scope of a private law relationship. Therefore, the absence of facts personally attributable to the employee does not render the dismissal null and void. It follows that the fact that the employer cannot prove that she was the author of the wrongful acts or that she participated in them does not render the dismissal invalid.

However, the Court of Cassation confirms that in the absence of facts personally attributable to the employee, her dismissal is without real and serious cause.