Paris (AFP)

The labor court of Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine) postponed Friday to April 17 the hearing of the dispute between Carlos Ghosn and his former employer Renault to claim retirement compensation of 250,000 euros.

To everyone's surprise, the request for a referral was presented by the lawyers of the former manager, who nevertheless had themselves seized the industrial tribunals for interim measures, that is to say via an emergency procedure which presupposes evidence of the facts.

"So is it an emergency or not?" Was surprised by the president of the summary panel, Annick Roy, after the request for dismissal made by Mr. Ghosn's lawyer, Me Laetitia Ternisien. After deliberation, it nevertheless granted the postponement of the hearing to April 17.

"We received Renault's response only Monday noon, so four days to respond to 20 pages of conclusions is clearly not enough. Our client is abroad, it takes a minimum of preparation to respond calmly", a explained Me Ternisien in front of journalists, leaving the courtroom.

"In summary proceedings, we hear only urgent cases which do not pose any difficulty. We see in reality that we are asked to send us a referral and therefore neither the urgency nor the evidence required in summary proceedings is established", a declared Me Yasmine Tarasewicz, who defends the interests of Renault.

Carlos Ghosn had been forced to leave his post as CEO of Renault on January 23, 2019, when he was in prison in Japan for various alleged embezzlements revealed by the Japanese manufacturer Nissan (of which he also chaired the board of directors).

In spring 2019, the 65-year-old former manager had taken steps to liquidate his retirement rights. He appealed to the industrial tribunal at the end of December to claim a retirement indemnity of 250,000 euros.

On the side of the car manufacturer, we consider that Mr. Ghosn is not entitled to this compensation insofar as he had not been employed by the company for years.

The reference documents of the group with the diamond stipulate that one cannot combine the status of a corporate officer with an employment contract. However, Mr. Ghosn had this status as an agent since his appointment as CEO in 2005.

Defenders of Renault consider that the employment contract was therefore broken, while those of the manager believe that it was only suspended.

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