The Nancy Court of Appeal has recently confirmed a judgment of the Labor Court which ruled in late 2018 a former employee of a shoe store in downtown Nancy. Victim of moral and sexual harassment on the part of his boss, the latter, defended by Mr.e Eric Horber, lawyer at the Nancy bar, obtained the judicial termination of his employment contract and the conviction of his employer for dismissal void. The boss was ordered to pay him almost € 20,000 in various compensation, including damages.
On an indefinite contract for two years, Laura filed a complaint on 1er March 2016, when she was placed on sick leave. The young woman explains that she is being harassed, that she receives SMS with sexual connotations and also others of pressure concerning her work: “I love you”, “You are beautiful”, You are fired “or even” You ain’t futfut but you ain’t ugly ”…
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Professionally recognized incapacity
She also denounces inappropriate gestures: her boss, who also made sexual advances to the store, would have tried to take her in his arms, could also caress her buttocks at any time. One day, learning that his employee had her breasts replaced, he asked her for a photo of her breast. Another time he asked for a photo of her naked.
1er September 2016, during the follow-up visit after the sick leave, the occupational doctor declared Laura “unfit for the position of salesperson in the current structure and to the position of salesperson in another structure”. On September 19, the girl was declared “permanently unfit for all positions in the company. A month later, she was dismissed “for medically proven unfitness for all positions in the company”.
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“Victims still hesitate to talk about it”
Piously preserved, the multiple text messages carried the decision of the industrial tribunal, as did the testimonies of former employees who came to establish that the owner of this store was more than tactile with Laura.
“I have been defending employees who have been victims of bullying for years and cases of sexual harassment are less common insofar as victims are always reluctant to talk about it”, explains Me Eric Horber. “However, long before women’s voices were effectively freed in France, my client decided that it had to end and I initiated the procedure in July 2016. The industrial tribunal had perfectly understood the case and the Court of Appeal fully validated the decision of the first judges ”.
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