The State was ordered in mid-December by the Paris judicial court to pay nearly 7 million euros in compensation to 1,051 people who were victims of delays considered excessively long to assert their rights before the industrial tribunal, confirmed reports judicial sources Wednesday. The case, revealed by Le Canard Enchaîné in its edition dated Wednesday, concerns employees who “have been paying the price for a dysfunctional justice system for a very long time,” Dany Marignale, lawyer for the plaintiffs, explained to AFP.
Thus, an employee who had contacted the industrial tribunal in December 2012 had a first decision in October 2013 before an appeal was lodged and then an appeal was filed. She only learned the outcome of her case in May 2021, nine years after the start of the procedure. “The detailed examination of the different stages of the procedure reveals an unreasonable delay of a cumulative duration of 40 months”, underlines in its decision the Paris judicial court which ordered the State to pay this complainant 9,000 euros in damages and interests.
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“The State is required to repair the damage caused by the defective functioning of the public service of justice,” recalled the judge, stressing that a denial of justice constitutes an “attack on a fundamental right”. The State has filed an appeal, a judicial source announced to AFP on Wednesday. According to another source, he also asked the judge to suspend the payment of compensation which ranges between 2,500 and 11,000 euros.
“My clients, who are mainly workers (…) and come from several regions of France will still have to wait two more years” to be compensated, their counsel expressed emotion to AFP, who is also delighted that the court recognizes “the suffering of our clients, their anxiety and the moral damage”. “When you have a weak and weakened party, who comes to claim severance pay which is already capped by law and you have to wait 10 years to get the compensation, it’s a huge problem,” regretted Me Marignale , which is committed to bringing these disputes further to remind the State of its obligations. “The delays are extremely important because the justice system is not sufficiently resourced, and not because the cases are complex,” he believes.
