Harassment: is an investigation always mandatory? 

No: In labor court cases, evidence is freely admissible.
No provision of the Labor Code requires employers to conduct an internal investigation in cases of reported sexual harassment.
It is therefore up to the judge to assess the value and scope of the evidence produced, in particular the hearings and statements produced.
Cass Soc, January 14, 2026 – Appeal No. 24-19.544

Can the employer contact the employee’s attending physician and use the information provided?

NO. An employer may not contact an employee’s doctor to obtain information covered by medical confidentiality and use it in the context of dismissal.

The Court of Appeal declared the dismissal null and void and ordered the reinstatement of the employee after finding that the employer had violated her privacy by obtaining information about the employee’s medical condition from comments she had made during a medical consultation, and then used this information to accuse her of obtaining a medical certificate in retaliation for the occupational physician’s opinion of fitness for work.

In this case, the Court of Cassation reiterated that medical confidentiality, established in the interests of patients to protect their privacy, as provided for in Articles L. 1110-4 and R. 4127-4 of the Public Health Code, covers everything that comes to the doctor’s knowledge in the course of their professional duties, i.e. not only what has been confided to them, but also what they have seen, heard, or understood.

Obtaining or attempting to obtain information in violation of this professional secrecy is punishable by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of €15,000.

Therefore, the employer may not contact the employee’s attending physician to obtain and use information covered by medical confidentiality.

The unlawful nature of the grounds for dismissal based, even in part, on information obtained by the employer from the employee’s attending physician in violation of medical confidentiality infringes on the employee’s privacy and, in itself, renders the dismissal null and void.

Cass. Soc, December 10, 2025 – appeal no. 24-15.412

Can an employer access an employee’s home?

The answer is no, according to the Court of Cassation: an employee’s use of their home is a matter of their private life and they are entitled to refuse access to their employer, who nevertheless remains bound by a duty of care towards their employees.

Consequently, the employer cannot refuse to implement teleworking recommended by the occupational physician as a workplace adjustment on the sole grounds that the employee has refused to allow the employer to visit their home.
Cass. Soc, November 13, 2025 – appeal no. 24-14.322