In a ruling dated November 5, 2025 (23-14.633), published in the Bulletin, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) stated for the first time that a business engineer at IBM France can demand that his former employer comply with the provisions relating to a collective negotiated termination (RCC), after the termination has taken place, and without seeking the annulment of that termination.

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In this particular case, the IBM France business engineer, having received €233,104 in gross variable compensation, plus accrued vacation pay, for the first half of 2017, and since this point was not challenged on appeal, he can demand that his employer apply the legal and contractual rules regarding the minimum amount of severance pay due under the collective negotiated termination agreement, including this variable compensation.

Therefore, his severance pay must be calculated by incorporating the €256,414 gross variable compensation to which the company was ordered to pay, and in accordance with the provisions of the company agreement governing the collective negotiated termination.

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In this case, a sales representative of IBM France entered into a mutually agreed termination agreement on March 22, 2018, as part of a collective negotiated termination.

Under the terms of this agreement and the collective negotiated termination agreement, the employee was to receive:

• A mobility leave allowance;

• An allowance for the rapid implementation of a project if the employee found a new job before the end of the mobility leave;

• A specific incentive allowance equivalent to the standard severance pay.

Following the termination of his contract, the employee filed a claim with the Paris Industrial Tribunal seeking payment of outstanding variable compensation for the first half of 2017.

The employee also sought outstanding severance pay, arguing that the €233,104 in variable compensation due, plus accrued vacation pay, should be included in his reference salary under the collective negotiated termination agreement. In a judgment dated March 9, 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the employee's claims for variable compensation amounting to €256,414 gross, including vacation pay.

However, the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed his claims for severance pay, ruling that the termination agreement clearly stipulated the amounts due.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal held that, in the absence of a request to annul the termination agreement, the employee could not request its modification.

The Court of Cassation, however, did not accept this reasoning.

Thus, in a ruling published in the Bulletin, the Court of Cassation held that the employee is not required to request the annulment of the mutually agreed termination to demand that his employer apply the provisions of the Labor Code, the collective bargaining agreement, and the company agreement concerning collective negotiated terminations regarding the amounts paid in such a termination.

In other words, the employee can retroactively request a revision of his reference salary, which is necessary for calculating his severance pay. In this respect, the Court of Cassation is applying to collective negotiated terminations the rules already established for individual negotiated terminations (see in this regard Cass.soc., May 5, 2021, No. 19-24.650).

 

Frédéric CHHUM avocat et ancien membre du conseil de l’ordre des avocats de Paris (mandat 2019-2021)

Camille BONHOURE avocate

CHHUM AVOCATS (Paris, Nantes, Lille)

e-mail: chhum@chhum-avocats.com

www.chhum-avocats.fr

https://www.instagram.com/fredericchhum/?hl=fr

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