The Court retained a “contractual fault” against the SNCF. The South Rail Federation believes that this judgment “does not put an end to the problem of asbestos” in the company.
Le Monde with AFP
The SNCF was sentenced last week by the Paris Court of Appeal to compensate 119 former rails for the prejudice of anxiety, after exposure to asbestos at their workplace, said 21 December their lawyer .
The Court sentenced the SNCF to pay 10,000 euros of damages “in compensation for the prejudice of anxiety” to each of these 119 ex-employees, “all retirees now,” said M e Xavier Robin, confirming Information from the Norman media The octopus and the union South Rail. SNCF reported that it would do “no comment on this subject”.
There are “119 favorable and identical decisions”, in “analogous files”, and “25 unfavorable stops” for files that had “not been sufficiently supported with testimonials from relatives or colleagues,” explained The lawyer. These former railways worked “mainly to maintenance, in workshops,” he said. This procedure had been launched “in 2013 in front of the prud’hommes,” he added.
In 2019, the Court had made a first decision in favor of another ex-employee, condemning the SNCF to pay it “7,000 euros” of damages, reported M e Robin. The Court then had “forgotten to hear the other files,” he said. In the case judged in 2019, the railway group did not appeal to cassation, told the lawyer. From the procedure, there were “162 files”, but since “some employees have died and others have dropped”, according to Dominique Malvaud, South Rail.
A ” Contractual fault “
In one of the 144 judgments rendered on December 16, the Court notes that the former employee concerned “intervened on materials containing asbestos, brushing or cutting them”. The prejudice of anxiety is “established” and it is an “effective anxiety”, emphasizes the Court.
In 1980, this former technical agent worked “throughout his career” in a Maintenance Workshop in Rouen, according to the judgment. “Former work colleagues have been” reached “or are” for some deceased from diseases related to asbestos exposure, “adds the court. This complainant, who provided “the testimony of his relatives”, is the subject of a regular radiological follow-up in a difficult context, since the link between exposure to asbestos and the development of cancers is known “, raises the court.
against the SNCF, the Court has retained a “contractual fault” because the company “does not demonstrate having made available to its employee adapted equipment for protection, or even informing him of the dangers he could incur “. But the employer must “ensure safety and protect the physical and mental health” of its employees, reminds the Court.
In a statement, the South Rail federation believes that this judgment “does not put an end to the asbestos problem” at the SNCF, where, “still today, there are serious shortcomings in security obligations. “, accuses the union.