Agence de coopération culturelle et technique v. Housson

The case concerned a receptionist employed in 1971 at the École internationale de Bordeaux, an entity of the Agence de coopération culturelle et technique (ACCT), an international organization based in Paris. A written employment contract was formalized in 1977, and the employee was dismissed in 1981 for alleged irregularities and breaches of professional conduct. Contesting the dismissal, particularly in light of her pregnancy, she brought claims before a French labour court.

The organization invoked immunity from jurisdiction under the 1970 Convention establishing the ACCT, the 1972 Headquarters Agreement with France, and its 1980 supplementary agreement, arguing that neither the ACCT nor the school could be sued before French courts. The Bordeaux Court of Appeal rejected this objection, finding that the nature of the employee’s duties and the private-law character of her contract justified French jurisdiction. Before the Cour de cassation, the ACCT argued that it enjoyed immunity from jurisdiction unless it expressly waived it in a particular case.

The Court held that the lower court had correctly interpreted the contractual clause stating that disputes arising from the employment contract would be submitted to the competent court of the place of employment. Combined with the fact that ACCT’s internal staff statute did not apply to locally recruited employees, this constituted a specific waiver of immunity in the context of this contract. French labour courts were therefore competent. However, the Cour de cassation annulled the part of the judgment awarding damages for “abusive resistance”, finding that the Court of Appeal had not established any fault on the part of the organization capable of transforming its procedural objection into an abuse of rights. The case was remitted to the Limoges Court of Appeal on this point