French court rules companies can't fire employee for not embracing a peritif culture

A French court ruled that companies can't fire an employee because they don't partake in social activities like after-work drinks or team building activities.

The case focused on the firing of an individual, known as Mr. T, who served as a director and a four-year employee at the consulting firm Cubik Partners. The company that promotes a culture that says you have to have fun is fired in 2015 for not doing more, while he was fired for not doing more to embrace the company's fun culture.

The co-founder of Cubik Partners, Olivier Cornut, told CBS MoneyWatch that the employee had been fired for strictly professional reasons and abstaining from a so-called aperitif culture. The company claimed Mr. T had a demotivating tone and refused to listen to his colleagues, especially when they had differing viewpoints, according to The New York Post.

However, he argued that his definition of fun differed from the company's, and that what the company saw as fun was a violation of an employee's fundamental right to dignity and respect of his private life, according to the court filing.

Mr. T would skip seminars and weekend events due to the company's practices advocated by the associates linking promiscuity, bullying and incitement to various excesses. Such practices included crude nicknames for employees, mock sexual acts, an obligation to share beds during seminars and posting distorted or fake photos in the office.

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The employee was accused of being rude and boring, hard to work with, and a poor listener, according to Staffing Industry Analysts.

The case lasted for seven years but the courts eventually sided with Mr. T, saying last month that the company had undermined a fundamental freedom that was constitutionally guaranteed in freedom of expression.

The court agreed with Mr. T that the company's policies amounted to intrusive practices, and that the company could only criticize his behavior, not fire him for his decisions.

Cubik Partners appealed against the court's decision to pay Mr. T compensatory damages in the sum of over 40,000 euros in overtime reminders and paid time missed.