French Supreme Court, October 16, 2019, n°18-18.287
The French Supreme Court rules that the waiver in a settlement agreement by the employee of their existing or future rights and of any proceedings relating to the performance of the employment contract does not make a later claim inadmissible, provided the employment contract has continued following the execution of the settlement agreement, the employee's claim relates to to the conditions of performance of the employment contract after the execution of the said settlement agreement, regardless of whether they existed since the beginning of the contractual relationship.
In this case, an employee had concluded a settlement agreement with her employer in 2007 providing for the payment of a salary reminder and the allocation of a more favourable coefficient in return for a waiver of the existing or future rights and to any proceedings relating to the performance of the employment contract. Subsequently, the employee claimed wage discrimination and requested payment of a wage differential as of May 2008.
The French Supreme Court thus reversed the appeal judgment which had declared the claim inadmissible on the ground that, although the new claims were distinct from the original subject matter of the dispute, they were covered by the waiver of the existing or future rights and of any proceedings relating to the performance of the employment contract.
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