Does a work stoppage mean that he must cease his sporting activity or face dismissal?

Failure by the employee to comply with his duty of loyalty presupposes damage to the employer. Where the employer is unable to demonstrate that the sporting activity has aggravated the employee’s state of health or led to a further extension of his work stoppage, the breach of the employment contract by the employer has no real and serious cause. The employee did not commit the serious misconduct alleged against him.

The employee had participated in 14 sports competitions during work stoppages.

His employer decided to terminate the employment contract for breach of the duty of loyalty. He felt that he had suffered financial damage as a result of the salary to be maintained during the periods of suspension of the contract.

The Court of Appeal held that the break-up had no real and serious cause, since the employee’s participation in sporting competitions had not caused any prejudice to the employer.

The employer appealed to the Court of Cassation, but the appeal was dismissed. The damage cannot be caused by the maintenance of wages alone and it has not been demonstrated by the employer that participation in sporting competitions has worsened the employee’s state of health or contributed to the prolongation of work stoppages.