Where Things Are Going In Employment Law

Ed. Note: As you know, we ll occasionally look at where the law is going in other jurisdictions for hints on where the law may be going in the United States. This is especially true in the area of employment law where international unions are frequently pressing for changes made in one country to be carried into another. Some states and federal jurisdictions are already recognizing and applying discrimination law to family responsibility situations. This case from Paris gives a hint to where it might be going.

In this case a graduate from one of the most prestigious French schools was hired as a trader by a major French bank in 1982. In 1989, after several promotions, she went on maternity leave. She returned to work eleven years later, after having given birth to five children and having combined several maternity and parental leaves. When she returned to work in 2000, she alleged she was assigned a less prestigious department of the bank and saw her career stagnate.

In 2007, she considered herself to have been constructively discharged and her employment contract terminated by fault of her employer because of sex discrimination, her pregnancies and her family situation.

She alleged her employer had not given her, after she returned, a position similar to that of before her departure, as required by French law; and that, consequently, her career progression had been impeded due to her eleven years of absence and her shift to a parttime job. Moreover, upon her return, her salary had not been readjusted in line with inflation and thus, she had never received a level of remuneration comparable to those employees of the company with equivalent length of service, experience and profile.

After relying on a comparative analysis carried out by experts from the French agency for combating discrimination and for equality, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the employee and ordered the bank to pay her:

More than EUR 150,000 for prejudice resulting from discrimination (back pay);

EUR 7,000 for moral prejudice resulting from discrimination;

In addition to EUR 150,000 for prejudice as a result of the constructive termination of her employment contract.

For a total EUR 307, 000 nearly six years fulltime salary.