This employee was not protected by her sick leave. The Court of Cassation recalls an important distinction between work accident and commuting accident.
While it is common to say that no job is worth losing your health, no one is safe from an accident. And potential consequences. An employee recently experienced a mishap that cost her her job. She was recruited on January 24, 2022 as supplier database manager for SAS St Michel Services, a biscuit manufacturing company located in Loir-et-Cher, where people are not polite.
On February 8, 2022, a few days after her arrival, the employee suffered a travel accident. “The travel accident starts at the employee’s home and ends at the doorstep of the company. From the moment the employee is at his place of work and under the control of the company manager, we speak of a work accident,” explains Alec Szczudlak, lecturer in social law at Evry Paris-Saclay University. Case law has several times recognized that a detour made by an employee could still correspond to a travel accident.
Injured, the employee is placed on work leave from February 9 to 25, 2022. This stoppage is at the heart of her trial period which is still in progress. Far from being ideal for proving oneself, the employee thinks she is protected from any termination thanks to her sick leave. However, on February 23, 2022, she received a letter from her employer to notify her of the end of her trial period. A sudden breakup while his sick leave is not yet over.
She then appealed to the industrial tribunal to obtain the annulment of the termination, her reinstatement in the company and the payment of €5,000 in damages for moral damage. In particular, she invokes protection against dismissal in the event of a work accident, a provision guaranteed by article L.1226-9 of the Labor Code. She also believes that it is discrimination linked to her state of health. She won her case before the industrial tribunal on September 12, 2023. The employer appealed.
And it’s a cold shower for the employee. On December 10, 2024, the Orléans Court of Appeal reversed the industrial tribunal’s decision. “In this case, the Court of Appeal noted that the employee was on sick leave following a commuting accident and that she could therefore not benefit from the above-mentioned protection,” explains Alec Szczudlak. The employee is in fact the victim of a commuting accident and not of a work accident.
A cassation appeal is filed but the decision is the same. On April 9, 2026, the High Court confirmed the distinction between work accidents and commuting accidents, while validating the judgment of the Court of Appeal. This difference also blocks any protection linked to sick leave. “If the employee had been the victim of a work accident and therefore placed on sick leave, protection against dismissal would have been effective,” concludes the social law teacher. The termination of the trial period is therefore validated. The employee leaves empty-handed and will have to pay the company’s legal costs.
