Case Law Alert: Employees cannot claim overtime due to Sunday work if they have not first challenged the validity of their "forfait-jours"

Employees subject to a working-time in days agreement ("forfait-jours") are entitled to the provisions relating to daily rest, public holidays, paid leave and weekly rest.

In the case at hand, after the employee was dismissed, he alleged that the working hours he had to work on Sundays were in violation of Sunday rest and had to be paid to him as overtime.

The Cour de Cassation has dismissed this argument on the grounds that an employee cannot claim the payment of overtime in the context of a working time in days agreement, except if the employee challenges the validity of this agreement. The Cour de Cassation has thus reasserted that working time in days is strictly inconsistent with the logic of overtime.

On the other hand, the employee could have claimed damages due to non-compliance with Sunday rest. (Cass. Soc. 21 Sept. 2022, no. 21-14.106 FS-B)