The facts
A French employee was hired by a French company in 2019. In 2020, the employee spent her summer holidays in Canada, and as her return flight was cancelled, her employer temporarily authorised her to work from Canada.
The employee requested to work from Canada on a permanent basis. She even threatened to resign. But her employer never authorized her to work from Canada on a permanent basis.
Once the Covid crisis was over, the company gradually organized the end of general remote work and asked all employees working from abroad to inform of their workplace. The Canada-based employee did not say that she was still working from Canada.
After her manager noticed that she struggled to connect to online team meetings in the morning, the employee admitted that she was still working from Canada. The company then urged her to come back to work in the French office, but the employee refused.
The employee was therefore dismissed for gross misconduct.
Court’s decision
The employee challenged her termination in court. On August 1, 2024 (n° 21/06451), the Paris Employment Tribunal ruled that the employer was entitled to dismiss the employee for gross misconduct, considering inter alia that:
- The employee had breached her contractual obligations, by concealing information from her employer and by not going back to the office after her employer gave her formal notice to do so;
- The employer was exposed to significant risks given the fact that work was carried out by one of its employees in Canada without the authorization of the Canadian authorities and in breach of GDPR rules.
We therefore recommend that teleworking practices are precisely defined at company level, so that breaches can be sanctioned if necessary.