A man who died after having sex with a woman he met on a working trip was the victim of a professional accident and his employer is responsible, a French court has ruled.
The decision by appeal court judges in Paris stretches further the concept of a workplace accident in a country that gives generous compensation to dependants of staff who die on the job.
Xavier X, whose surname was not released, was a technician working in the Loiret département in central France, on assignment for his employer, TSO, a railway construction company based in an eastern Paris suburb. On a night in February 2013, he was found dead after a heart attack in his hotel room in Meung-sur-Loire shortly after having sex with a local woman whom he had just met.
The labour authorities declared Xavier’s death to be an accident du travail, a classification that entitles the victim’s family to benefits including long-term compensation paid by the state and in many cases by the employer. Their partners and children receive a monthly benefit of up to 80 per cent of their salary until what would have been their retirement age and then a share of his or her pension. Xavier’s employer contested the decision but lost at all stages. “A sexual encounter is an act of normal life like taking a shower or eating a meal,” said the 2016 lower court ruling that was upheld by the appeal court in May. When the ruling was reported this month it was met with mockery on social media and criticism from some labour professionals. People wondered online whether Félix Faure, a president who died while having sex with a mistress in the Élysée Palace in 1899, would now be decreed a victim of an accident du travail. Legal experts say that the court was applying a law that has been ever more broadly defined. Employers including Renault have been found liable after labour authorities ruled that stressed employees who committed suicide at home are victims of work accidents. A decade ago, the courts decreed that any accident suffered by employees on working trips away from their base constitute accidents du travail unless the employer could prove that they deliberately interrupted their work “mission” for personal ends. That led to an appeal court ruling in 2017 that a travelling executive who injured his hand in a fall while dancing at a disco in China was a victim of a work accident and his French employer was liable. It did not matter that it was 2am and the man was off duty, the court said. Lawyers for Xavier’s company argued to the Paris court that he was not performing duties for his employer when he suffered his heart attack. His death was “not imputable to his work but to the adulterous sex act that he had had with a complete stranger”, they said. But the judges said that an employee on assignment “is entitled to their employer’s protection for the duration of their mission . . . whether or not the accident takes place as part of a professional activity or as an act of normal life”. The judgment has been questioned by lawyers who say it goes too far. “Since the cardiac arrest happened in a situation without any link to professional activity, this ruling is contestable,” Sarah Balluet, a labour lawyer who was first to report the Xavier verdict, said. “This ruling is unprecedented and merits a review by the court of cassation,” she said, referring to France’s highest appeal court.