Court of Appeal Accepts Marco Simone’s Dismissal on Grounds of Gross Misconduct

Court of Appeal of Orleans, 28 November 2019, no. 17/00888, SASP Tours FC

Date of the decision: 2019-11-28

By hiding from the club leaders the information he held on a player’s toxicological analyses, which proved positive, the coach breached his obligations of information, advice, loyalty and sincerity towards his employer. Such behaviour constitutes gross misconduct justifying his dismissal.

Facts and Procedure

In July 2015, Tours FC (which then played in Ligue 2) hired former Italian international footballer Marco Simone as first team head coach on a fixed-term contract (FTC) for two sporting seasons and in exchange of a gross monthly salary of EUR 15,000. On 16 February 2016, at the request of the club doctor, one of the club’s players underwent a blood test, the analyses of which had revealed the consumption of psychotropic substances. The doctor immediately brought this data to the attention of the coach, who decided not to refer it to the club management (separately, note that the next day, the doctor ordered the footballer to stop working until 19 February 2016, for a completely different reason, in this case lower back pain which...

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