The High Court rules on the conditions for a union to be a civil party in cases of offenses committed against a trade unionist, emphasizing the need for a collective interest prejudice.
Extract
[...] The High Court recalls that, in accordance with Article L. 2132-2 of the Labour Code, a union can constitute itself as a civil party as soon as an offense has caused a direct or indirect prejudice to the collective interest of the profession. The judges of cassation hold that in this case, the defendants committed the offense in order to prevent the trade unionist victim from introducing the union into the company. As this affects the trade union freedom, there is an attack on the collective interest of the profession, so the union can constitute itself as a civil party. [...]
[...] This means that the offense must harm not the union itself, but what it defends. This is a constant position of the jurisprudence, consecrated by Article 2132-3 of the Labour Code. For example, in a decision of December the criminal chamber declared the constitution of a civil party by a union to be inadmissible, because the aggression of a member of the profession does not constitute an attack on the collective interest. However, based on the aforementioned judgment, the studied decision may raise questions. [...]
[...] The aggression was therefore made in order to prevent this action. Thus, here, as in the 2023 ruling, the motive of the offense allowed the union to accept the constitution of a civil party. [...]
[...] However, the association of wrongdoers targeted an employee, not the profession itself. The appeal should therefore have been rejected, according to the position of a ruling of December of the Criminal Chamber. Here, a member of the profession was attacked, but the Court did not retain a collective interest. The difference in the decision studied is that the victim is a trade unionist, not an ordinary employee. And above all, what explains this position of the Criminal Chamber is the motive of the association of wrongdoers. [...]
[...] This is what the Court of Cassation recalled in its 2023 decision. However, the Court specifies that the collective interest can result from a personal prejudice of the victim in certain cases, such as in this case. II. A collective interest that can result from a personal prejudice of the victim The December decision recognizes the presence of a collective interest of offense, in this case the association of wrongdoers, committed due to the victim's trade union status, as she wanted to introduce the union into the company (A.). [...]
