Invalidity of dismissal: mere denunciation by an employee of facts that could be classified as criminal is not sufficient to benefit from the protection afforded to whistleblowers

Articles L. 1132-3-3 and L. 1132-4 of the Labour Code, as they stood prior to Law no. 2022-401 of 21 March 2022, mean that the grievance set out in the letter of dismissal based on the employee's reporting of facts which, if established, would be of a nature to characterise a crime or an offence, or a serious and manifest violation of an international commitment duly ratified or approved by France, of a unilateral act of an international organisation taken on the basis of such a commitment, of the law or regulations, or a serious threat or prejudice to the general interest, alone renders the dismissal null and void. A court of appeal may not declare the dismissal null and void on the grounds that it is the result, even in part, of the denunciation of a fact that may be classified as a criminal offence without finding that the employee had, in the disputed email, related or testified to facts that may constitute an offence or a crime and that the employer could not legitimately be unaware that, through this message, he was denouncing such facts. (Soc. 1st June 2023, no. 22-11.310, FS-B)