For a year and a half, Arielle Boulin-Prat and Bertrand Renardthe historical judges of the game Numbers and letters, are fighting to contest their departures which they consider abusive of the intellectual game of France 3. In the summer of 2022, the two friends learned that they were not renewed, after 36 years of good and loyal service for the first, and 47 years for the second. Ulcerated, the two professionals took the joint decision to take France Télévisions to court, before the Industrial Tribunal, to challenge their dismissal, and to have their the countless fixed-term usage contracts (CDDU) into a single permanent contract (CDI). In addition, they demand no less than 500,000 euros in damages each to their former employer.
This Friday, January 26, 2024, Arielle Boulin-Prat and Bertrand Renard had an appointment with the Paris Industrial Tribunal and thought they had finally decided on their fate… But unfortunately for them, as revealed by our colleagues at Parisianthe account is not good, and the four jurors failed to reach an agreement and a sufficient majority to dismiss them or agree with them. During the hearing, the lawyer for Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat revealed the conditions “vexatious” of their dismissal, claiming that they would have seen each other at first impose a reduction in “60%” of their remuneration, “by videoconference” ; this drop is explained by the switch of the game to weekends from the start of the 2022 school year. After twenty steps spent on France 3 to be broadcast from Monday to Friday, Numbers and letters is now broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays.
The industrial tribunal advisors did not find an agreement
Arielle Boulin-Prat and Bertrand Renard refused this drastic reduction. Instead of offering them a reclassification, France Télévisions finally made the brutal decision to remove them from their broadcasts. For the civil party’s lawyer, this questionable decision is linked to the advanced age of her clients, who are both over 65 years old. But the opposing party’s lawyer countered this aspect of the defense, recalling that the facilitator Laurent Romejko, which has been renewed, is also more than 60 years old. Faced with such contradictions, the four jurors were unable to reach an agreement and no majority decision could be reached. According to The Parisianthe case will therefore be re-heard by an exceptional panel of five jurors, but Arielle Boulin-Prat and Bertrand Renard will have to be patient…
Indeed, this formation of five judges, including a career magistrate, will not happen before “18 to 24 months”. At the end of the hearing, the former emblematic judges Numbers and letterssince replaced by Stéphane Crosnier and Blandine Maire in a version completely redesigned at the weekend, preferred to ironically about their fate: “Hopefully we’re not dead by then!” mocked the wife of actor Éric Prat, seen notably in the cult comedy Aunty Danielle.