It is essential to provide explanations demonstrating the repercussions of the employee’s behaviour on his personal life in order to establish a breach of contract

Cass. Soc., 22 January 2025 n°23-10.888 – Published in the bulletin

During a cruise organised by her employer, an employee smoked hookah in the cabin she shared with her pregnant colleague and blocked the fire detector.

She was therefore disembarked by the captain, repatriated at the company’s expense and then dismissed for misconduct, her employer considering :

• that she failed to comply with safety regulations and endangered the 130 other employees present and all the passengers,
• that the captain had ordered his early disembarkation, the Société

was forced to take emergency measures and incur costs to house and repatriate the employee,

• to have suffered damage to its image,
• that the facts in dispute related to the employee’s professional life.

The Court of Cassation considered that the acts of which the employee was accused were part of her personal life and could not constitute a breach of the obligations arising from her employment contract: 

• the employee was not at work when she committed the acts and was therefore not subject to a relationship of subordination or to the rules in force within the company.
• the company did not demonstrate a serious disturbance:
• the company’s operations being little influenced by the opinions of crew members informed of the incident, or by comments from passengers,
• and, above all, that “no explanation” was given of the possible effects of hookah use on the health of the person sharing the employee’s cabin, or of any opposition to such use on the part of the employee.

The wording chosen by the Court of Cassation suggests that its assessment of the facts might have been different if explanatory evidence had been provided to illustrate the repercussions of the employee’s behaviour, thereby making it possible to establish a link between her behaviour and a loss suffered by the company and/or its employees.