Mr Frederic Desnard, 44, worked as a manager at the perfume company and believes he is due more than a quarter of a million pounds in compensation after suffering “mise en placard” or “bore out” (the opposite of burn out!)
According to Mr Desnard, shortly after he started to work with Interparfums he was stripped of his responsibilities and felt as if he did not exist.
He told France’s BFM television: “I left work each day with a desperate, sinking feeling.”
He said that some days he would arrive at work and start crying and nobody would notice:
“I was left depressed and ashamed of being paid for doing nothing.”
The Company’s lawyer, Jean-Philippe Benissan said that Mr Desnard never told the Company that he had nothing to do:
“And if he actually had nothing to do over all these years, why didn’t he mention it.”
Mr Desnard’s case is not the first time a French employee has brought a claim for being paid to do nothing. Earlier in the year, an employee was put on full paid leave for 12 months by the national railway operator after he was meant to be relocated within the company but his boss forgot about him! The employee, Mr Charles Simon, brought a claim alleging that this ruined his career.
These cases are in contrast to the case of Mr Garcia, which we covered earlier this year, who was sued by his employer after it was discovered he had failed to turn up for work for six years!