Employer's inexcusable fault (France)

The French work accident and occupational disease scheme compensates the victim on a flat-rate basis, in exchange for employer immunity. Inexcusable fault is the exception that reopens broader compensation. Since the rulings of the social chamber of the Court of Cassation on 28 February 2002 in the asbestos cases, it is established when the employer was or should have been aware of the danger and did not take the necessary measures to protect the employee; the definition no longer requires fault of exceptional gravity, and litigation soared. Its consequences are set in articles L. 452-1 et seq. of the Social Security Code: an increased annuity, and compensation for additional heads of damage, extended by the Constitutional Council in 2010 to all damage not covered by Book IV, then to permanent functional impairment by the full court of the Court of Cassation in 2023. The fund advances the sums and recovers them from the employer. Article L. 452-4 allows the employer to insure against these financial consequences, which makes it a standard cover in liability policies. For the underwriter, it is a long-tail risk, serial whenever toxic exposure is involved, whose cost case law has raised several times after underwriting.