In a ruling issued on November 25, 2020
Cour de Cassation
(French Supreme Court) reaffirmed the exceptional nature of
co-employment by giving a new definition of its constituent
elements.
This more restrictive definition, which reinforces the
exceptional nature of the situation of co-employment, should have a
deterrent effect on employees wishing to rely on this concept in
court.
Co-employment within corporate groups is a concept developed by
French courts, in particular in the context of disputes with a view
to having a company belonging to a group (the parent company) be
held jointly and severally liable for the financial consequences of
the dismissals on economic grounds (redundancies) implemented by
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
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French Court of Appeal remands case against Total over alleged failure to respect Duty of Vigilance law in Uganda to commercial court Total Uganda case in France: the Court of Appeal of Versailles remands the case to the commercial court , 10 Dec 2020
The judges ruled in favour of Total, confirming the judgment of the first instance court which considered that this dispute fell within the jurisdiction of the commercial court. Civil society organizations (CSOs) believe that this decision is contrary to the spirit of this law and harmful to its implementation.