The French Football Federation (FFF) has won a legal victory. In a judgment, the Paris administrative court of appeal granted him, Friday, May 6, in the context of his appeal filed against the cancellation of his social plan decided by the administrative court of Paris, in December 2021.
This so-called job safeguarding plan (PSE), launched in May 2021 by the general manager of the FFF, Florence Hardouin, provided for the elimination of eighteen positions (compared to twenty-six at the start) due, allegedly, to the economic consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Nine employees affected by this measure, which had been the subject of a majority agreement signed in July 2021 with the aim of achieving 2 million euros in savings, had filed, in September, an appeal before the administrative court of Paris. .
The administrative court of appeal did not follow the public rapporteur who concluded that the appeal of the FFF against the cancellation of the plan was rejected.
To justify the cancellation of the PSE, the administrative court had noted, in December, that the general manager of the FFF did not have the ” skill “ for “sign the majority agreement”, “being deprived of standing to represent the employer” insofar as the PSE has not been voted “by the federal assembly for the provisional budget 2021-2022”, nor validated by the executive committee.
Proceedings before the Labor Courts
The court recalled that “the delegation granted to the managing director for contractual commitments does not exceed the sum of 300,000 euros”. “Therefore, the applicants are justified in maintaining that the decision of July 16, 2021 of the regional director of the economy, employment, labor and solidarity of Ile-de-France is tainted with illegality and cannot than to be cancelled”, concluded the court.
While ten employees concerned by the PSE have initiated proceedings before the industrial tribunal, the content of the judgment of the administrative court of appeal constitutes a success for the management of the FFF. For their part, the lawyers of the former employees should file an appeal before the Council of State.
In its judgment, the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal notably ” estimated that the executive committee of the FFF, in its meeting of January 27, 2022, ratified (…) the signature of the Director General of the FFF, who must thus be considered retroactively as having been qualified to sign, on July 13, 2021, the collective agreement relating to content of a PSE.
According to the jurisdiction, it follows from the foregoing that the FFF is justified in maintaining that it is wrong that, by the contested judgment of December 10, 2021, the administrative court of Paris annulled » the validation of the ESP.
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