Court rules employee can’t be sacked for being ‘boring’

'Boring' worker who refused to join weekly drinks wins £2,500

A French worker has won the right to be boring after a court ruled that he was unfairly dismissed for not joining his colleagues in the pub.

Mr. T, whose full name has not been released, was a senior adviser for Cubik Partners, a Parisian training firm that promises to apply a “fun & pro” approach.

In that spirit, it organised social events for staff to bolster team spirit.

When Mr T refused to take part in these, Cubik – which also accused the former employee of being square and boring, difficult to work with and a poor listener – fired him in 2015 on the grounds of “professional inadequacy” and because he lacked the party spirit it was seeking to promote.

However, Mr T argued that he did not share its definition of “fun” and he was entitled to “critical behaviour and to refuse company policy based on incitement to partake in various excesses”.

Seven years later, the Court de Cassation in Paris has finally agreed with him.

In its ruling, the appeals court pointed out that it was not everyone’s cup of tea to “forcibly participate in seminars and end-of-week drinks, frequently ending up in excessive alcohol intake”. It ordered Cubik Partners to pay the Mr T euros 3,000 (pounds 2,500).

However, he has demanded a further euros 461,000 in damages – a request that the court will examine at a later date.