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French court accepts worker's "Right to be boring" claim. Can an employer lawfully dismiss an employee if the employee refuses to partake in after-work drinks or team-building activities? 🍸🍷 The facts of the case ⚖️ In 2015, Cubik Partners (the Respondent - a Parisian management consultancy firm) fired the claimant (identified as “Mr T”) because of – it argued – “professional inadequacy”. The said ‘inadequacy’ included allegations of him lacking listening skills and being difficult to work with. Mr T argued that his dismissal was inherently unfair and was due to the fact that he would not partake in after-work drinks or certain team-building activities. It was found that the company culture involved forcing employees to participate in seminars and attend end-of-week drinks which frequently involved excessive-alcohol intake. It was also found that the company’s employees often engaged in “humiliating and intrusive practices”, including “simulating sexual acts”, colleagues sharing a bed during seminars and the use of nicknames in the office. 🧑🏻‍⚖️ The Tribunal's judgment 👩🏽‍⚖️ The French court agreed with the claimant and awarded him £2,574 as compensation for his dismissal from Cubik Partners. It held that Mr T had a right to his own private life, and more specifically a right to freedom of expression. He is seeking a further £395,630 in damages to be assessed at a later date.