France: the absence of economic grounds does not render layoffs null

This decree by the social chamber of the Supreme Court was highly anticipated in the Viveo case, named after the company operating in software publishing, whose layoff procedure was canceled by the Court of Appeal of Paris in a ruling rendered in May 2011 because the economic grounds justifying the layoff procedure was missing.  Canceling a layoff procedure has very serious consequences since it cancels all subsequent actions, namely the resulting contract terminations.  Employers were afraid that a turn in the jurisprudence would lead to late dismissal invalidations imposing massive reinstatements.