Castel Viandes: victory on appeal for a quality manager fired after denouncing the recycling of spoiled beef
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Nearly sixteen years after his dismissal, an employee who had denounced recycling of spoiled meat in a slaughterhouse in Châteaubriant (Loire-Atlantique) won his case. The Rennes Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday that the dismissal at the end of 2008 of Pierre Hinard, according to the judgment of the industrial tribunal. She orders the former employer to pay her 30,000 euros in compensation. Castel Viandes was subsequently condemned in particular for “deception regarding the quality of goods”.
Pierre Hinard was employed as quality manager by Castel Viandes when, in December 2008, he informed the veterinary services that the group was practicing “repackage”, in other words the recycling of spoiled meat from unsold products. The same afternoon, he was summoned by his management and laid off, before being the subject of dismissal proceedings a few days later for “professional insufficiency”, his lawyers recalled during the hearing on February 15.
“Given the absence of characterization of the cause invoked by the employer to proceed with the dismissal, the real cause of the termination of Mr. Hinard’s employment contract is the denunciation to the veterinary services within the company itself. practices of repack (…) His dismissal is therefore void as having been caused by the exercise of his freedom of expression,” considers the court of appeal.
“His quality as a recognized whistleblower”
“It’s the end of impunity” for industrialists, Mr. Hinard told AFP. “I just did my job, I should have been supported,” he added. One of his lawyers, Me David Lemercier, estimated that his client “at least won in terms of principles because his quality of alert launcher was recognized.” The Castel Viandes company is “appealing to the Supreme Court”, its lawyer, Me Marie-Pascale Vallais, informed AFP on Wednesday evening.
At first instance in 2019, the Nantes industrial tribunal ruled that the dismissal procedure targeting Pierre Hinard was compliant and the latter therefore appealed. “The fact for an employer to suddenly find that his employee has inadequacies after he has launched an alert is unfortunately common,” lamented Me Eva Joly, one of his lawyers.
The former environmentalist MEP had notably requested that her client benefit from the protection granted by law to whistleblowers, considering that he met all the criteria. In last February, during his appeal trial, he called for the recognition of whistleblowers. The decision was deliberated on Wednesday, April 10.
Following denunciations made by Pierre Hinard, a trial was held in Nantes in 2022. The criminal court convicted the CEO of the Castel Viandes group, Joseph Viol, six months in prison suspended sentence and a fine of 10,000 euros, notably for “deception regarding the quality of goods”. The company, which supplied groups such as McDonald’s or Auchan, was fined 40,000 euros for the same charges.
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