The Paris criminal court ruled that France Telecom (now Orange) and three former company executives were guilty of moral harassment in a trial over their role in a wave of employee suicides during 2007 and 2008. In a statement, Orange said that it would not be appealing against the ruling, under which the company has been ordered to pay a EUR 75,000 fine. Former CEO Didier Lombard and two other executives have each received a one-year prison sentence, of which eight months are suspended, alongside a EUR 15,000 fine. According to the French press, Lombard will be appealing against the decision.
The landmark ruling follows a three-month trial during which the prosecution accused the company of having implemented a restructuring programme based on policies aimed at destabilising and harassing employees. Measures included transferring staff to distant posts away from their families and giving them demeaning roles. The court examined the cases of 39 employees, of whom nineteen took their own lives, twelve attempted suicide, and eight suffered depression or were forced to stop working.
In its statement, Orange said that a compensation committee has been at work since October to review individual situations of employees who were affected by the restructuring programme during the 2007-2010 period. The role of this commission is to agree acceptable compensation settlements to avoid long, costly and socially painful litigation procedures, said the company.
