Abstract EN:

The employee's competence is a notion often overlooked by the legislation on labour. For the legislator, one's competence is defined by the employee's professionnal qualifications : numerous laws mention it, especially the vocational training. For the contracting parties, the notion of competence refers to the employee's actual skill in which the Court of cassation is interested in whether it should be while checking certain clauses of the labour contract, or decisions resulting from the employer's organizing power. The duality of the notion reveals two different systems. The great number of regulations combined with its conventionnal dimension lends the professionnal qualification a rigid aspect and results in an ordinary bone of contention. Conversely, the way in which one definies the employee's real competence depends upon work relations. If the employer has the power to define in what this ability consists, the employee enjoys a deeper checking and the risk deferment of the proof.