Are French courts about to be inundated with lawsuits from employees claiming that their employers are boring them sick?

Probably not. But a ruling last week by a French appeals court may eventually be notable for helping establish "bore-out" alongside burnout or bullying as a work-related illness, according to a number of employment and labor lawyers.

This month, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered Interparfums, an industrial fragrance company, to pay €50,000 to Frédéric Desnard, a former manager who claimed that he was entitled to compensation because his employer had made him ill by not giving him enough to do.

"La mise au placard," or putting an employee in the closet, is a technique used by some employers in France to push employees to leave so as to avoid paying them severance, lawyers said.

The ruling, handed down June 2, was the first to use the term "bore-out" and to characterize it as a form of workplace bullying – "harcèlement moral," or moral harassment, in French – for which employers can be held liable under French law.

The case dates from 2014, when Desnard, who was responsible for general services at Interparfums, was dismissed for being on sick leave for too long. Desnard argued that his illness, and in particular an epileptic episode he suffered, was caused by his employer's actions, which he said included giving him menial tasks to perform that fell far short of matching his qualifications.

The labor court in 2018 ordered the parties to negotiate. Interparfums appealed, and the Court of Appeal assessed damages.

In its ruling, the appeals court noted "Mr Desnard's lack of activity and boredom," and cited testimony that he was "tired of doing nothing."

Interparfums did not respond to requests for comment.

The case grabbed headlines for the first appearance of the term "bore-out" in a higher court ruling, but it is not the first case of its kind, labor lawyers told Law.com International.

"The practice of putting an employee 'in the closet' by isolating him and giving him less to do or less important tasks – unfortunately, that is well known," said Laura Jousselin, of counsel to the French labor law firm Fromont Briens.

The number of such cases is difficult to quantify, she added, because not every instance gives rise to a lawsuit – and not every instance of employee underutilization is the result of malice by the employer.

But when it does happen, the injury is real, lawyers said.

"My clients who have experienced the 'placard' have taken it very poorly to have their company say, essentially, 'we can do without you,'" said Isabelle Hamdache, a solo practitioner and labor law specialist in Paris.

"People who think they are overworked might find the idea of having less to do very attractive," she continued. "But in fact, psychologically, being asked to do too much can be better than not enough."

Whether the Desnard case will change jurisprudence or serve as a precedent rests on whether its findings in law are affirmed by the Court of Cassation, France's highest court, Hamdache said. So far, no further appeal has been announced.

The case may lead to "bore-out" becoming recognized as a workplace-related illness – an outcome that could happen, Jousselin said, though it would be a long road ahead and difficult to prove.

"You'd have to have a lot more cases on the books," she said. "Now that 'bore-out' has been used by the Court of Appeal, other cases might now be framed in those terms."

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