Dismissal of the public law appeal against a decision on the employer's liability for non-payment of AHV contributions

Facts

F., an international civil servant, hired J. as a domestic employee starting June 1, 1998. F. did not register J. with the Geneva Cantonal Compensation Fund (the Fund) and did not pay the social security contributions. The Fund subsequently affiliated F. as the employer for the period from June 1, 1998 to June 30, 2008 and demanded payment of arrears of contributions. F. filed an appeal against this decision, which was dismissed by the Cantonal Social Insurance Court of Geneva. F. then filed a public law appeal against this judgment.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal declared the appeal inadmissible. It considered that the employer's liability under Art. 52(1) OASIA constitutes a case of "state liability" within the meaning of Art. 85(1)(a) FSCA. Accordingly, the public law appeal is only open if the amount in dispute is at least 30,000 francs (or if there is a question of principle). In the present case, the amount in dispute was only 25,740.85 francs, which renders the appeal inadmissible.

The Federal Tribunal adopted a broad interpretation of the notion of "state liability", encompassing not only the liability of…