Possibility for the occupational physician to record an employee’s unfitness at the end of a medical examination that he or she has initiated on his or her own initiative

French Supreme Court, social chamber., March 11, 2026, No. 24-21.030

The occupational physician may, on his or her own initiative, summon the employee to a medical examination and, where applicable, declare the employee unfit at the end of that examination, provided that the statutory rules governing the finding of unfitness have first been complied with (medical examination, job analysis, communication with the employer).

Conviction of a French parent company for breach of its duty of vigilance following discriminatory dismissals in a foreign subsidiary

Paris Judicial Court, judgment of March 12, 2026, RG No. 22/04017

The civil liability of a French parent company (Groupe Yves Rocher) heading an international group is upheld, on the basis of the French Law on the Duty of Vigilance, on account of damage caused within a foreign subsidiary (Turkey) after it was noted that this subsidiary had been omitted from the risk mapping prepared by the French parent company in its vigilance plan, which was held to be insufficient to prevent the infringement of the trade union freedom of nine former employees of the Turkish subsidiary who were dismissed following their membership in a trade union, thereby constituting a breach of the Law on the Duty of Vigilance. This judgment holds that French law constitutes an overriding mandatory rule (overriding mandatory provisions) applicable irrespective of the local law that would normally be applicable.

Working time and geolocation of employees: a lawful mechanism subject to strict conditions

French Supreme Court, social chamber., March 18, 2026, No. 24-18.976

A trade union challenged the lawfulness of the geolocation system used by the employer to monitor the working time of its mobile employees. This system consists in recording their location, every ten seconds, by means of a mobile device that they carry with them during their round and that they activate themselves. According to the Cour de cassation, a geolocation system intended to monitor the working time of mobile employees is lawful in so far as these employees do not enjoy freedom in the organization of their work and no other system makes it possible to ensure an objective, reliable and accessible monitoring of their working time.

PSE: employees seconded to the company are included in the calculation of the workforce

French Supreme Court, social chamber., No. 22-10.903

A company had planned the elimination of 29 positions, of which 11 persons were employees regularly seconded to its premises by a service provider. As they had not been counted in calculating the 50-employee threshold triggering the obligation to implement a PSE, the Cour de cassation, reiterating the rules laid down in Article L.1111-2, 2° of the French Labor Code, held that employees made available must be included in the headcount where they have been working for at least one year on the premises of the user undertaking.