A 2017 ordinance, the famous "Macron scale", capped the industrial tribunal indemnities that workers could benefit from in the event of unfair dismissal.

But some recent court decisions give the feeling of a rejection of this new logic.

DECRYPTION

Towards a new case law?

Recent court decisions suggest that the cap on industrial tribunal indemnities introduced by the 2017 ordinances, the famous "Macron scale", will be applied less and less.

Invited to settle cases of dismissals, several courts of appeal have in fact chosen to set aside the scale and set more generous compensation amounts, because they correspond to the "reality of the damage suffered".

In the current economic context, the loss of a job is made worse by the greater difficulty in finding one.

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Source of injustice?

The Reims Court of Appeal opened the way a little over a year ago, with a judgment of September 25, 2019. Others have followed suit: Grenoble last June and Bourges two months ago .

Labor courts have also adopted this logic, like Angoulême last July.

According to them, using the "Macron scale" can be a source of injustice: the latter caps the amount of damages during compensation for the damage suffered by an employee who is the victim of unfair dismissal.

Indeed, to the problem of employee unemployment can be added additional difficulties: for example, family responsibilities, the high age of the worker or his poor state of health.

According to the judges, in these circumstances, there must be compensation "appropriate" to the concrete situation of the employee, which implies a compensation higher than the scale.

Unsuccessful job searches

"When the judges seek to define the damage suffered by the unfairly dismissed employee, it is obvious that the difficulty in finding a job is decisive", explains Pascal Lokiec, professor of labor law at Paris 1-Sorbonne.

He adds that the health crisis, and the mass unemployment which results from it, will undoubtedly reinforce this new case law: "We can expect, with the explosion of unemployment, that judges will use more and more l 'concrete assessment to rule out the scale. "

The reasoning seems to have been followed by the Court of Appeal of Bourges to free itself from the Macron scale: after his dismissal, the employee had justified an impressive number of unsuccessful job searches, which led the court to grant him higher compensation.