The judgment has fallen. A month after an extraordinary and particularly tense first hearing, the Paris industrial tribunal decided to condemn Paris Saint-Germain in the case between the capital club and its former star, Kylian Mbappé.
The latter sued his previous employer due to a financial dispute and demanded payment of unpaid salaries and bonuses at the end of his contract in June 2024, estimating his damage at 263 million euros. If the Paris industrial tribunal did not require that the French striker receive as much as he wanted, the Bondynois still won his case this Tuesday, December 16: PSG, rejected all his requests, will have to pay him 61 million euros.
Does this judgment represent a total victory for Kylian Mbappé?
In any case, this is what Frédérique Cassereau, one of Kylian Mbappé’s lawyers, proclaimed a few moments after the deliberation. An opinion shared by Me Johan Zenou, lawyer specializing in labor law and social law.
“It is a logical judgment, which corresponds to a fair legal decision,” believes the expert in labor disputes. “There is a clear principle in labor law: as long as the employer has not initiated disciplinary proceedings to dismiss or terminate the employee’s contract, the salary is due and he has an obligation to provide work. »
For the lawyer, the club led by Nasser al-Khelaïfi acted “out of pride” by refusing to pay its former scorer. “We cannot take justice into our own hands,” he says. “What PSG did was a sort of retaliatory measure: they didn’t like that the player left and caused them to lose millions of euros.”
What does provisional execution of the sentence mean?
As a reminder, the industrial tribunal ordered the provisional execution of the sentence, ordering Paris Saint-Germain to pay the sum owed to Mbappé upon receipt of the judgment. In addition, the capital club will have to publish the entire judgment on the front page of its website for one month.
Why such a decision? “To prevent the judgment from having any effect,” explains Johan Zenou before explaining: “This allows us to avoid the possibility that PSG will appeal in order to delay or not enforce the judgment. From a procedural point of view, they saved Mr. Mbappé from having to wait.”
Indeed, without the provisional execution of the sentence and in the event that Paris files an appeal, the captain of the French team would have had to wait 2 to 3 years before receiving his 61 million euros, which corresponds to the classic deadline for an appeal “in matters of social justice”, as specified by Me Zenou.
Does PSG have an interest in appealing?
If it will comply with the court decision by paying the requested sum, Paris Saint-Germain, which has taken “note of the judgment pronounced”, reserves “the right to appeal”, as stated in a press release released two hours after the verdict. As of this Tuesday, he has one month to make his choice known and refer the case to the Paris Court of Appeal.
A recourse not recommended by Johan Zenou. “I clearly do not see how the Court of Appeal can overturn the judgment,” considers the specialist lawyer. “The industrial tribunal is the second instance ruling in favor of Mbappé, since the LFP had already done so last year,” he recalls, referring to the verdict rendered by the LFP’s joint appeals committee on October 25, 2024.
“Without the provisional execution, PSG could have gained 2 to 3 years in the procedure and kept the money in its treasury but now that it has been ordered, honestly, from a legal point of view, it is over,” complains our expert.
According to Me Zenou, Mbappé’s former employer has much more to lose by appealing. “PSG has no interest in doing so, other than out of pride. If they appeal, they can receive a much heavier sentence,” he says, specifying that “the quantums (amounts) can change on appeal.”
The court of appeal could even return to other hot points of the case, such as the reclassification of Mbappé’s contract from CDD (fixed-term contract) to CDI (indefinite duration), a request from the player rejected this Tuesday. “It could be appealed and the club could very well be convicted on that too,” concludes Johan Zenou.
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