Coronavirus : employees dismissed due to force majeure challenge their dismissal

According to their lawyer, the case of force majeure can only be relied on for the Covid-19 to break the CDD because the epidemic had already started at the time of hiring of these employees.

A dozen employees, among the fifty CDD dismissed in march for "force majeure event" for the company DMF (benefits selling), will enter the industrial tribunal of Nanterre, said on Tuesday their lawyer.

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According to Me Rudy Laquille, the case of force majeure can only be relied on for the Covid-19 to break the fixed-term contracts, as the epidemic had already started at the time of hiring of these employees at the end of February. In addition, the breakdown of fixed-term contracts entails the payment of wages up to the end of their term, in this case four months.

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Stephen Athea, manager for the region of Brittany and South-West of DMF, was dismissed along with his entire team "on the 19th of march by e-mail", he said. According to him, "some of the vendors (its) team have no unemployment benefit because they have not worked long enough". "The business would be perfectly able to put these employees in technical unemployment," growls he.

DMF, which is based in Asnières-sur-Seine, is a French specialists of the outsourcing business : its employees of the sale or demonstration of products for the account of the major brands.

Exemption from the payment of the CDD term

I Laquille has also been contacted by employees of the sister company Distri-Com, a subsidiary as DMF group FMG, which claims 1000 full-time equivalent employees and a turnover of 65 million euros, according to its website.

The company DMF explained that the CSD was in charge of animations in rates of tobacco-tasting e-cigarettes to customers. "Unlike other activities of DMF, which were only suspended and for which employees (CDI) were placed in technical unemployment, this provision could not resume, so we have broken the contract by paying a specific indemnity," said the human resources department of the company.

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The case of force majeure exonerates the company of payment of the CSD until his term, according to the head of human resources, who said "do not have in mind the number of fixed-term employees concerned".