Court of cassation, Social Div., 10 December, 2025, n° 24-15.511
By a decision dated 10 December 2025, the French Court of Cassation provided important clarification on the conditions under which an occupational physician may declare an employee unfit for work.
In this case, an employee had been placed on sick leave, which was extended several times. Being aware of the theoretical end date of the last sick leave period, the employer referred the matter to the occupational health and prevention service in order to organise the return-to-work medical examination, on the basis of Article R. 4624-31 of the French Labour Code, on a date following the theoretical end of the last sick leave.
The employee ultimately submitted a further sick leave certificate extending his absence but nevertheless attended the medical examination. Following this examination, the occupational physician declared him unfit for his position.
Challenging this opinion, the employee argued that unfitness could not be established during a medical examination conducted while the employment contract was suspended. He therefore sought the annulment, or failing that the unenforceability, of the opinion issued.
Hearing the appeal, the Court of Cassation upheld the decision of the court of appeal. It held that, from the combined application of Articles L. 4624-4, R. 4624-31 and R. 4624-32 of the Labour Code, it follows that the occupational physician may declare an employee unfit for his position during an examination carried out at the employer’s initiative, regardless of the fact that the medical examination takes place while the employment contract is suspended, and notwithstanding the employee’s submission of new sick leave certificates.
Accordingly, the employee’s argument that the return-to-work examination can only be organised from the time of his actual return to work, and not during a period in which the employment contract is suspended, is ineffective. Unfitness may be established during a visit organised pursuant to Article R. 4624-31, even if the employee is still on sick leave.
Furthermore, the Court reiterated that the validity of an unfitness opinion remains subject to compliance with the requirements set out in Article L. 4624-4 of the Labour Code, in particular the completion of a job analysis, discussions with the employee and the employer, and the issuance of written conclusions including information relating to redeployment.
This decision secures the practice of anticipating the organisation of return-to-work medical examinations, without calling into question the safeguards attached to the unfitness procedure.
For the record, the Court of Cassation had already held, in a decision dated 24 May 2023 (no. 22-10.517), that an occupational physician could declare an employee unfit for his position even though the employment contract was suspended. In that case, however, the unfitness had been established during a medical examination carried out at the employee’s request, which distinguishes that ruling from the present decision, rendered in relation to an examination organised at the employer’s initiative.