A female employee can request the payslip of a male colleague

Transparency in the face of injustice. To prove pay inequality, an employee can legitimately request the communication of payslips of male employees occupying positions of a level comparable to hers. This is what the Court of Cassation has just recalled in a judgment delivered by the social chamber on March 8, 2023.

An employee dismissed by her employer considers that she has suffered pay inequality compared to several male colleagues who have held the positions that were hers. So the Court of Appeal, in the context of the right to evidence, ordered the employer to communicate to the applicant the payslips of male employees employed in positions of a level comparable to his. The employer is appealing in cassation because this communication would infringe the privacy of the employees concerned.

An essential communication for the exercise of the right of evidence

The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal. For her, the communication of these payslips was essential to the exercise of the right to evidence and proportionate to the aim pursued, namely “the defense of the legitimate interest of the employee in equal treatment between men and women in terms of employment and work”.

The Court adds that the scope of the requested production of documents must be limited. Thus, the bulletins communicated must conceal personal data with the exception of surnames and first names, the conventional classification, the detailed monthly remuneration and the total gross remuneration accumulated per calendar year.

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