Under the French Labour Code, employers are required to ensure that employees adapt to their jobs and to maintain their capacity to occupy a position, in particular in light of changes in jobs, technologies and work organisation. Where necessary, this includes providing additional training. In a ruling of 9 April 2026, the Court of Cassation has clarified the limits of this obligation.
The question was whether the training duty extended to providing the employee with the initial training required to access a different role within the company. In this case, the employee argued that the employer should have provided the training needed to take up an available position calling for a different qualification from his existing role.
The Court of Cassation rejected the argument. The training obligation does not require the employer to provide initial training that the employee lacks for a position carrying a different qualification from that of the employee’s current role. The employer’s duty is to maintain and adapt the skills relevant to the employee’s existing job, not to underwrite a career conversion towards a substantively different qualification.
The practical takeaway is that, while the obligation to maintain employability is broad, it has clear limits: continuous adaptation training (new technologies, evolving organisation) is required; initial training to switch profession or qualification is not. The distinction may matter, in particular, in disputes over the scope of redeployment obligations.
