Court of Cassation, Social division, 21 January 2026, n°24-12.972
In practice, the absence of a professional review meeting is sometimes presented as automatically entitling the employee to a corrective top-up to their Personal Training Account (CPF). The Court of Cassation has clarified that this is not the case.
Under the regime in force prior to Law n°2025-989 of 24 October 2025, Article L. 6315-1 of the French Labour Code provided for :
In companies with at least 50 employees, non-compliance with these obligations triggers a € 3,000 corrective top-up to the employee’s CPF.
In this case, the employee argued that the mere absence of professional review meeting was sufficient to obtain the top-up.
By contrast, the Court of Cassation held that the corrective top-up is due only where there is a cumulative absence of professional review meeting and access to non-mandatory training related to the employee’s professional activity.
In other words, the absence of a professional review meeting alone does not trigger the top-up, it must also be established that the employee did not benefit from any non-mandatory training. Conversely, the lack of such training does not give rise to a top-up where the professional review meetings were properly conducted.
Some Courts of Appeal had already reached the same conclusion (Court of Appeal of Toulouse, 25 November 2025, n°24/01318 ; Court of Appeal of Dijon, 3 March 2022, n°20/00115).
The Court of Cassation therefore confirms that these conditions are cumulative, thereby putting an end to an overly expansive reading of the provision. Although the reform of 24 October 2025 reorganised the regime governing professional review meetings, it did not materially alter the conditions for the corrective top-up. As a result, the Court’s ruling remains fully relevant today.