court decides
Termination for absence from company parties void
Bizarre case in France: an employee was fired for not attending company parties. The court now decides that this is not legal.
A French court found that one company failed to make end-of-week seminars and parties compulsory where the provision of large quantities of alcohol encouraged excess and encouraged bullying, lapses and indiscriminate sex. (icon picture)
France’s highest court has ruled that an employee cannot be fired for not attending regular after-hours company parties involving heavy drinking and other debauchery.
However, the Parisian consulting firm, where the plaintiff worked, violated the employee’s right to freedom of expression with its “Fun and Pro” corporate culture, the Court of Cassation in Paris ruled. It declared the termination, for which the company had put forward other reasons, to be invalid.
Parties should be compulsory
The company failed to mandate end-of-week seminars and parties where the provision of large quantities of alcohol encouraged excess and encouraged bullying, lapses and indiscriminate sex, the court found.
The Senior Consultant had seen his human dignity and respect for private life violated by a corporate culture that humiliated his privacy.
«Our customers love it»
“You have to have fun at work, and our customers love it,” said the company website in general about the company culture. It is about a strong mental flexibility and an unshakable solidarity within the team and towards the customers. Employees should be independent, dynamic and passionate. (SDA)