The regular signing of successive seasonal contracts does not reclassify all these contracts as permanent contracts, even though the collective agreement provides for the position to be offered to the seasonal employee hired in previous years. An employee may claim severance pay which takes into account only the length of service actually acquired within the company.
For example, a seasonal employee hired for 37 years in the same ski resort and whose contract has not been renewed has referred the matter to the Prud'hommes Council. He requested that all of his 37 contracts be reclassified as permanent contracts and that a severance payment be granted corresponding to 37 consecutive years of service, whereas his employer took into account only the actual length of service, contract after contract, in the company, that is to say almost 20 years.
The Court of Appeal reclassified all seasonal contracts as a permanent contract and ordered the employer to pay severance pay in accordance with the employee's 37 years of seniority.
The Court of Cassation does not accept the reclassification of all seasonal contracts as a DTA. It also does not take into account the employee's total seniority and only confirms the payment of a non-renewal allowance provided for in the collective agreement calculated as a severance allowance taking into account the actual seniority acquired with seasonal contracts.
