Can you be fired for working during a sick leave?

While on work stoppage, an employee, hired by an IT company, is acting as a manager in a hotel he set up. The employer then decides to dismiss him for serious misconduct, considering that the employee has not respected his duty of loyalty.

The Court of Cassation confirmed that the employer could not dismiss the employee for serious misconduct. The dismissal is judged to have no real and serious cause. The exercise of an activity during a work stoppage does not in itself constitute a breach of the duty of loyalty, an obligation which remains despite the stoppage of work.

According to the Court of Cassation, the act committed during the suspension of the contract of employment must cause harm to the employer or the company to justify the dismissal.

It should be noted that this judgment concerns only employer-employee relations in the context of the employment contract and does not comment on the consequences in terms of compensation and sanctions of the Health Insurance.