An employee of the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) took part in fourteen badminton competitions while on sick leave. The Court of Cassation has just ruled that his employer did not have the right to dismiss him. The high court considered that the practice of badminton had no impact on the employee’s state of health and that his participation in the competitions had not led to a breach of his contractual obligations. Accordingly, the dismissal was unlawful.
Being on sick leave and participating in sports competitions are not incompatible. The Court of Cassation has just confirmed this, following the case of an RATP agent. This controller RATP had suffered five sick leaves, due to pain in the wrist, arm and neck, over a period of one year. During this period, he still took part in fourteen badminton competitions. His employer then considered that there was abuse and decided to dismiss him, citing in particular his violation of theduty of loyalty which is inherent in every employee.
According to the AEF agency, an employee on sick leave is released from his main obligations towards his employer, with the exception of his obligation of loyalty. This means, for example, that he cannot work during his sick leave for a competing employer, as this would be detrimental to his employer.
The RATP controller having been dismissed, he took legal action. A long procedure which ended before the Court of Cassation . The judges concluded that no, the practice of sports during a sick leave had not harmed the employer and that there was no breach of the obligation of loyalty.
The internal fund of the RATP opposed this decision, considering that there had been financial damage, since the RATP had paid the wages in full during work stoppages which were then invalidated. However, for the judges, this was not enough. The sporting activity would have had to aggravate the employee’s state of health and delay his return to work for it to be possible to speak of harm. And this, even if the employer himself insures the health risk of his employees.
