In a decision dated December 8, 2021, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) confirmed that when the mandatory provisions of French law regarding the termination of an employment contract are more favorable, they apply to employment contracts under foreign law performed in France.

In a judgment handed down on November 27, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeals ruled that an employee who had been working in France for 40 years under a Moroccan law employment contract ought to benefit from French law provisions relating to the mechanism known as "prise d'acte" (i.e., theacknowledgment of the contract termination by the employee due to serious breaches by the employer) and the calculation of his termination indemnities.

These findings have been upheld by the Cour de Cassation¹that made a strict application of the Rome Convention of June 19, 1980 on the law applicable to contractual obligations. For contracts entered into after December 17, 1980, the law remains constant in this matter with the entry into force of the Rome I Regulation of June 17, 2008². The decision of the Cour de cassation is thus indeed intended to apply to international contracts currently in force.

The Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation both provide that "a choice of law made by the parties shall not have the result of depriving the employee of the protection afforded to him by the mandatory rules of the law which would be applicable in the absence of choice", the appliable law in the absence of...

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