A French court has ruled that a pregnant employee in the chemical industry was unlawfully terminated by her employer. The employee, who worked as a project manager in research and development, informed her employer of her pregnancy on October 30, 2020. However, she was fired on December 14, 2021, for serious misconduct related to her failure to disclose that she had been handling hazardous substances without informing the employer. Initially, the Court of Appeal in Dijon upheld the termination, but this decision was later overturned. The court pointed out that under Article L. 1225-2 of the French Labor Code, an employee is not required to inform the employer of her pregnancy unless she intends to claim the protective rules associated with it. The decision to inform the employer and the timing of that disclosure rest with the employee. The court ruled that treating silence as a fault is equivalent to punishing the use of a legal right explicitly recognized by the law. Article L. 1225-4 of the Labor Code further states that employers cannot terminate the contract of an employee who is medically confirmed to be pregnant. The court noted that the termination in this case was based on a reason partially linked to the employee’s pregnancy, which rendered the termination invalid. This ruling aligns with Articles L. 1132-1 and L. 1132-4, which emphasize non-discrimination and the principle of equality of rights between women and men, as guaranteed by the third paragraph of the preamble of the 1946 Constitution. The court clarified that the employer’s grievance, while serious, could not justify the termination, as it was directly related to the employee’s pregnancy. The court emphasized that the risk of exposing a pregnant employee to chemical agents is a serious concern but should be addressed through protective measures such as task adjustment, removal from exposure, temporary assignment, and notification to the occupational physician, rather than termination. The ruling underscores the importance of ensuring that reasons for termination are not related to an employee’s pregnancy. Employers are advised to re-examine grievances to determine if they would remain the same if the employee was not pregnant. Employees are reminded that they are not required to spontaneously disclose their pregnancy, and legal protection does not depend on such disclosure.