French employment law - Labor Court Proceedings and New Claims During Proceedings: Broad Interpretation by the Court of Cassation of the Sufficient Connection for New Claims
The elimination of the principle of a single labor court proceeding, stemming from Decree No. 2016-660 of May 20, 2016, made it impossible to formulate new claims during proceedings.
This new general legal framework applies to proceedings initiated after August 1, 2016.
By application dated November 23, 2017, an employee filed a claim with the Labor Court seeking judicial termination of her employment contract.
A few days later, on November 27, 2017, she was dismissed for incapacity.
During the proceedings, the employee asked the labor court, primarily, to declare her dismissal null and void, to order her reinstatement and the resumption of salary payments from the date of her dismissal, or, alternatively, to declare it null and void without just cause.
The Versailles Court of Appeal dismissed her claims for the nullity of the dismissal due to workplace harassment or failure to obtain authorization from the labor inspectorate, her reinstatement to her position, and her related claims.
In a judgment dated December 17, 2025 (Court of Cassation, Appeal No. 24-16.116), the Court of Cassation overturned the Court of Appeal's decision and declared the employee's additional claims admissible because the new claims were sufficiently related to the initial claims.
This judgment of the Court of Cassation should be upheld.
1) Analysis.
This judgment should be upheld.
1.1) Interpretation of the sufficient connection with the initial claims.
The employee contested the validity of the dismissal, which was pronounced after the date on which the matter was brought before the labor court.
She had brought this challenge before the labor court, along with claims seeking the annulment of the dismissal, her reinstatement, and the payment of various sums, including back pay following reinstatement, compensation for wrongful dismissal or dismissal without just cause, severance pay, and compensation for failure to respect her protected status.
Therefore, the additional claims brought before the lower court, which concerned the termination of the employment contract, were sufficiently connected with the original claims seeking the judicial termination of the employment contract, producing the effects of a wrongful dismissal or, alternatively, a dismissal without just cause, and the payment of compensation.
The elimination of the principle of a single instance in labor court matters is regrettable. This has usefully complicated the procedures.
Employee lawyers, as a precaution, are filing new claims with the labor court.
This unnecessarily complicates the procedures.
It must be acknowledged that the legislature should have refrained from reforming this aspect of labor court procedure.
1.2) Other case law.
In a ruling by the Court of Cassation on July 10, 2024 (23-15.543), during proceedings concerning the reclassification of a dismissal for incapacity as a void dismissal before the lower courts, the employee made additional claims for payment of various sums as back pay, related paid leave, and damages for violation of collective bargaining agreement provisions relating to the minimum wage.
In this case, the employee argued that the collective bargaining agreement had not been respected, which could be considered both an element suggesting the existence of workplace harassment, thus justifying her claim for wrongful dismissal, and an element justifying her claims for back pay and damages for non-compliance with the collective bargaining agreement provisions relating to the minimum wage.
Consequently, the Court of Cassation held that the additional claims were sufficiently related to the initial claims (see Lexbase, July 11, 2024, Assessment of the admissibility of additional claims made during the proceedings).
To read the full article, click on the link below.
Sources.
Cass. soc. 17/12/2025, 24-16.116
Prud’hommes et unicité d’instance : quelles règles avant et après le 1ᵉʳ août 2016 ?
Salariés, cadres : les 7 principales mesures de la nouvelle procédure devant le Conseil de prud’hommes (décret du 20 mai 2016).
Frédéric CHHUM avocat et ancien membre du conseil de l’ordre des avocats de Paris (mandat 2019-2021)
CHHUM AVOCATS (Paris, Nantes, Lille)
e-mail: chhum@chhum-avocats.com
https://www.instagram.com/fredericchhum/?hl=fr
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