Success for CMS BFL and its client the La Poste group

CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre successful on behalf of the La Poste group.

The La Poste group entrusted Laurent Marquet de Vasselot, a partner in CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre, with the defence of its interests before the Paris courts (Tribunal de Grande Instance).

The CFTC Postal and Telecommunications union had issued proceedings against La Poste, France's largest employer, for an order preventing it from using fixed length and temporary employment contracts contrary (according to the union) to the applicable law, and, in respect of employees who had previously been employed under fixed length or temporary employment contracts, requiring it to calculate time in employment from the date of the first contract.

The action was presented by the Claimant as the first of its kind, both in terms of its collective nature, and in terms of size (it stated that more than 100,000 people were affected).

It also represented (again according to the Claimant) a historic legal step.

For its part, La Poste drew attention to the ambitious and determined nature of its employment policy, pointing out that the rate of employment of fixed length contracts was now 3% of personnel, which was a very small percentage for a business relying on labour. It also highlighted the fact that the number of personnel employed under fixed length contracts had halved since 2003.

The Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance, accepting the submissions of Laurent Marquet de Vasselot, declared in its judgment of 6 July 2010 that the claims presented by the union were non-justiciable or unfounded.

CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre's Employment Department has more than 60 lawyers, including 12 partners. The firm benefits from its long experience, which enables it to act in all fields of Employment Law without restriction.