Scanned signature: what validity?

An employee is hired by a business on a seasonal fixed-term contract. The next day, by letter, he took note of the termination of his employment contract, considering that his employer had not fulfilled his obligations because he had not provided him with a contract signed by him. A simple digitized image of the employer’s signature is affixed to the written contract and not a handwritten signature.

Before the Conseil de prud’hommes, the employee is refused his request to reclassify the fixed-term employment contract into an indefinite-term employment contract. The Court of Appeal also dismisses his appeal because the signature whose scanned image is reproduced on the employment contract makes it possible, regardless of the technical process used, to clearly identify the author.

The Court of Cassation dismisses the employee's appeal. The affixing of a signature in the form of a digitized image, although it cannot be assimilated to an electronic signature within the meaning of Article 1367 of the Civil Code, does not, however, constitute the absence of a signature. The contract of employment cannot therefore be reclassified.