GiFi asks the court for redressement judiciaire: what the procedure means for staff and customers

What happened

On Tuesday 20 October, the management of GiFi, a discount homeware chain, told staff that the company will ask for a redressement judiciaire — a court-supervised recovery procedure. The request goes to the commercial court in Toulouse. According to AFP, the chain has more than 500 shops and about 6,000 employees in France.

The new chair of the management board, Patrick Puy, said the shops remain open, that the procedure will have no immediate effect on jobs and that no job-cut plan (PSE) is planned at this stage.

One point matters: for now this is the company's own intention, not a court ruling. The procedure only starts with the court's opening judgment (jugement d'ouverture), and the deadlines below run from its publication.

Redressement is not closure

A redressement judiciaire starts with an observation period (période d'observation), used to assess the company's situation. The court may then adopt a recovery plan (plan de redressement). Liquidation (liquidation judiciaire) is a separate procedure: there, creditors' claims go to a liquidator rather than to the mandataire judiciaire.

Court-appointed officers take part. The mandataire judiciaire represents and defends creditors' interests. The administrateur, among other things, asks the court for permission to make dismissals.

If you work for a company in the procedure

The rules described on service-public.gouv.fr (page F38086):

• during the observation period, economic dismissals are only possible with the authorisation of the juge-commissaire, and only if they are urgent, unavoidable and essential. The administrateur files the request, and the judge's order is notified to the CSE (staff council);
• if the recovery plan includes job cuts, the administrateur sends the job-protection plan (PSE) to the Dreets.

Employees' money is protected by a separate mechanism. Under article L3253-6 of the Code du travail, every private-law employer must insure its employees, including those posted abroad, against the risk of not being paid what they are owed under their employment contract in a sauvegarde, redressement or liquidation judiciaire. This insurance is provided by the AGS. Article L3253-8 lists what it covers: notably the sums owed to the employee on the date the procedure opens and, under set conditions and time limits, payments when the contract is terminated.

The article speaks of employees in general, with no nationality condition — a relevant detail for a foreign resident working in France under an employment contract.

If you are a customer

The company says the shops are open. The questions are for people holding a gift card, a credit note (avoir) or a paid but undelivered order — money the company owes the customer.

The general procedure for creditors is set out on Entreprendre Service-Public (page F22359, written for businesses):

• in a redressement or sauvegarde, the claim (déclaration de créance) goes to the mandataire judiciaire; in a liquidation, to the liquidator;
• the deadline is 2 months from publication of the opening judgment in the BODACC; 4 months for a creditor outside metropolitan France;
• supporting documents are attached, and sending it by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (LRAR) is recommended;
• a creditor who misses the deadline cannot be paid; the right can only be restored if the delay was not the creditor's fault, through a request to the juge-commissaire within 6 months of the BODACC publication.

How gift cards will be handled in a given procedure is up to those running it; we found no official page written specifically for retail customers. It is practical to keep the receipt, the card number and the order confirmation now.

Where to follow it

Opening judgments are published in the BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, bodacc.fr). The publication date there is what starts the two-month clock — not news reports or press releases.

This applies to any French company, not just GiFi: if a shop where you ordered something, or your employer, announces a procedure, the questions are the same — has a court opened it, who is the mandataire judiciaire, and when was it published in the BODACC.