The Court of Cassation provides two important clarifications for companies: on the one hand, possession of confidential information from a former employer on an employee’s work computer may be sufficient to establish misappropriation constituting unfair competition by the new employer; on the other hand, in the context of an economic dismissal of fewer than ten employees, the challenge of an expert appointment decided by the Social and Economic Committee based on an important project does not suspend the one-month consultation period on the economic dismissal project.
In a decision published in the Bulletin on September 2, 2026 (Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation, September 2, 2026, No. 25-12.718), the Court of Cassation adopts a particularly exacting approach to the protection of confidential information in the event of the hiring of employees from competitors. It rules that the mere presence, on an employee’s work computer, of confidential documents belonging to his or her former employer may suffice to characterize their misappropriation by the new employer and constitute an act of unfair competition.
The case concerned a technical sales employee who had resigned to join a company engaged in a competing activity. His former employer, suspecting in particular a violation of the non-compete clause, had obtained a pre-trial...
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