The Lagardère group was condemned for having dismissed the journalist Valérie Trierweiler from the magazine Paris Match "
without real and serious cause
" in 2020, according to a judgment of the Paris industrial tribunal consulted Tuesday by AFP.
The Lagardère Media News company must pay the ex-companion of the former President of the Republic François Hollande, a total of 141,000 euros, according to this judgment dated April 25 and first revealed by the Mediapart information site.
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This sanctions both a dismissal "
without real and serious cause
" and the "
vexatious conditions of the break
".
On the other hand, the industrial tribunal did not accept one of the arguments of Ms. Trierweiler, who believed that she had been dismissed because of a "
hate
" of Mr. Holland by his predecessor at the Élysée, Nicolas Sarkozy , member of the Supervisory Board of Lagardère.
“
If the disagreement between the two former presidents of the Republic is public knowledge, (…) no concrete proof is provided by (the journalist) on the existence of such maneuvers
”, concludes the judgment.
Licensed in July 2020
Valérie Trierweiler, 57, was fired in July 2020 from Paris Match, where she worked almost her entire career.
The reason invoked was "
the inadequacy and the qualitative insufficiency of the proposals for articles presented to the editorial management of Paris Match
", is it recalled in the judgment.
But “
the employer, who now considers these articles insufficient, however published them without making the slightest remark
”, underlines the industrial tribunal.
In addition, the latter recalls that Paris Match "
opened its archives
" in 2019 to the journalist for her book "
We give ourselves news
", in which she compiled some of her articles.
"
A few months from invoking an alleged professional inadequacy, the employer was thus fully satisfied with the work provided by the employee
", judged the industrial tribunal.
However, he did not retain the fact that Ms. Trierweiler was dismissed because of her age, for lack of proof of a desire to "
rejuvenate
" the editorial staff of Paris Match.
By granting Ms. Trierweiler the maximum ceiling for damages, the industrial tribunal recognized that this dismissal constituted a “
collapse of her career
”, her lawyer, Me Rachel Spire, told AFP.
However, he “did
not go to the end of the reasoning
”, she considered: “
From the moment when we say that there is no valid reason for dismissing her, why are we dismissing her?
»
Asked by AFP, the management of Lagardère News did not wish to comment or specify whether it would appeal.