Two months after the end of the Olympic and Paralympic summer, justice ruled in favor of a former employee of the Organizing Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop), who challenged his dismissal. In a ruling dated October 31, the Paris Court of Appeal condemns the organizer of the Olympic Games for invalid dismissal “for the violation of freedom of expression” by Sébastien Chesbeuf, details Thomas Hollande, the plaintiff’s lawyer, in a press release published on Wednesday, November 6.
Chesbeuf, former head of institutional relations at Cojop, was fired for misconduct on February 5, 2020, after alerting an executive of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of alleged dysfunctions (governance problems, budgetary risks, lack of transparency of management with the public authorities) within Paris 2024, while his function imposed, according to the Organizing Committee, a duty of loyalty.
The former Cojop executive then filed an appeal with the Paris labor court to have his dismissal declared null and void. The labor court convicted Cojop in July 2021 for “unfair” dismissal and “without real and serious cause”, but rejected Sébastien Chesbeuf’s request for null dismissal.
reputational damage
The latter then decided to appeal to have his status as a complainant recognized. In its ruling, the appeal court annuls the ruling of the labor court, recognizes the worker’s freedom of expression and criticizes Paris 2024 “of having tried to silence Sébastien Chesbeuf by firing him for having made his warnings public and for having directly informed an IOC member, Pierre-Olivier Beckers”argues M.my Holland.
Co-author, with journalists Jean-François Laville and Thierry Vildary, of The hidden face of the Olympic Games (JC Lattès, 216 p, 20 euros), a work published a few weeks before the Olympic Games and in which he details his warnings about the management of Cojop, Sébastien Chesbeuf claims to have suffered, since his dismissal, both professional and reputational damage . .
“Paris 2024 will not comment”For his part, he responded to WorldWednesday, the Organizing Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
