France: Executive dismissed over secret affair with employee rep

According to Capstan, the French affiliate of Ius Laboris, a senior HR executive's secret four-year romantic relationship with a fellow employee, who was also a staff and trade union rep led to his dismissal. The relationship was considered a breach of his duty of loyalty

Why it matters: French Courts usually do not consider an employee's private life as grounds for dismissal. This case is an exception and shows that romantic relationships can affect an employee's duties and performance.

The bottom line: The executive's dismissal underscores the significance of maintaining professional boundaries to ensure the proper execution of management responsibilities. The fate of the other party, the employees’ representative, is not known. If she had a “duty of loyalty” it would have been to the employees she represented and to the union, not to the company.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

As Capstan puts it.:

The Court ruled this intimate relationship was related to his professional duties and likely to affect the proper performance of his management duties. The employee was thus in breach of his duty of loyalty. In this situation, an employer does not have to prove it has suffered any prejudice in order to dismiss the employee. 

This is an important decision because the general rule is that the facts of an employee’s private life may not justify their dismissal. French Courts apply this very strictly and exceptions to this rule are rare. However, in this case, the employee’s love life clearly had an impact on his duties.

You can read Capstan’s report on the case HERE