🎾 “It takes a man to referee a match like this” – What if these words had been said in the workplace?

The answer from labor law is clear

The Labour Code prohibits sexist behaviour, defined as

” any conduct related to a person’s sex, the purpose or effect of which is to undermine their dignity or create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment ” (C. trav., art. L 1142-2-1).

It’s up to the employer to take action.

The employer’s disciplinary power

The employer has a safety obligation. He cannot remain passive. In particular, he can use his disciplinary powers to punish or even put a stop to the behavior: warning, layoff, dismissal for serious misconduct. If he does nothing, after any investigation, he exposes himself to prosecution for breach of his safety obligation.

Penalties: concrete sanctions

Even without repetition, an isolated sexist comment falls under the heading of sexist and sexual contempt: imposing on a person a comment with sexist connotations that undermines their dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive situation is punishable, particularly in the context of abuse of hierarchical authority (5ᵉ class contravention).

Prevention and training: an obligation, not an option

The very day before the player’s remarks, on May 28, 2026, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) ruled that sexual harassment had occurred in the workplace (Cass. soc., May 28, 2026, no. 24-22.754). It ruled that an employee exposed to a humiliating and degrading work environment may be a victim of sexual harassment, even if she is not directly targeted. It also ruled that comments with sexual or sexist connotations made in front of several employees can be suffered by each of them. This ruling is in line with that of the Criminal Division (Cass. crim., March 12, 2025, no. 24-81.644), and finally locks in the notion of ambient sexual harassment, which exists in other countries.

➡️ Allowing a sexist climate to develop can amount to sexual harassment, of which every exposed employee is a victim. Failure to take action can expose the company to costly litigation.

Employers must therefore not only inform employees of the applicable laws and sanctions, but also deploy awareness-raising and training initiatives.

The lesson

Don’t wait for an employee to think he’s Vallejo. Train, raise awareness, prevent. Because professional equality is not a slogan, it’s the law.

What about you? Has your company taken concrete action against sexist behaviour?