French telco Orange found guilty over workers' suicides in landmark ruling

[rooster59]

French telco Orange found guilty over workers' suicides in landmark ruling

By Simon Carraud

 

FILE PHOTO: Didier Lombard, former CEO of France Telecom, arrives to attend the trial of French group France Telecom, which became Orange in 2013, and its former bosses for "moral harassment" at the Paris criminal court, France, May 6, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

 

PARIS (Reuters) - French telecoms group Orange <ORAN.PA> and its former CEO Didier Lombard were guilty of "moral harassment" that prompted a spate of suicides during a restructuring at the company in the late 2000s, a Paris court ruled on Friday.

 

The landmark ruling against the former telecoms monopoly is bound to reverberate in French boardrooms as it could pave the way for other similar collective procedures.

 

The court sentenced Lombard to a year in jail, of which eight months will be suspended, and a 15,000 euros ($16,700) fine. Yet since that term is under two years and as Lombard does not present a danger to society, he will not spend time behind bars under French court rules.

 

The traumatic episode of workers' deaths at the company in the late 2000s led to deep soul-searching over corporate culture in France.

 

The court found Orange guilty of the same charge, and fined it 75,000 euros ($83,200).

 

"In financial terms, the sentence is light, but this is the first time a French company gets a criminal conviction for moral harassment and that is very bad in terms of reputation," said a lawyer specializing in white-collar crime.

 

The lawyer, who declined to be named, added the ruling will be a major concern for other companies as it sets a precedent for corporate responsibility in moral harassment and employee burn-out cases.

 

Many individual managers have been convicted of harassment - and often fired as a result - but not companies themselves.

 

Orange, which in 2018 had core earnings of 3.3 billion euros ($3.66 billion), said it would not appeal the verdict.

 

Orange has previously acknowledged the suffering expressed by victims and recognized there may have been management errors in implementing the restructuring plan but denies there was any systemic plan or intention to harass employees.

 

COMPENSATION CLAIMS

 

Prosecutors argued that some of the methods employed in a deep restructuring of the company, then known as France Telecom, after privatization prompted a wave of suicides.

 

Lombard, 77, and three other former Orange executives also accused of "moral harassment" have denied any wrongdoing and said the restructuring plan was an economic necessity.

 

Orange used the last day of the trial in July to offer compensation to victims and relatives of those who died. The presiding judge estimated that claims for compensation so far were about 2 million euros ($2.25 million).

 

The case centers around a drive by the former state monopoly to shed 22,000 jobs and redeploy another 10,000 as it adapted to competition in the private sector.

 

In a country where workers employed on state contracts expect jobs for life and employees in both private and public sectors enjoy strong labor law protection, unions alleged that management sought ways to encourage workers to quit or accept reassignment.

 

Prosecutors listed at least 18 suicides and 13 suicide attempts between April 2008 and June 2010. According to union records, one employee stabbed himself in the stomach during a staff meeting and one woman threw herself out of a window.

 

(Reporting by Simon Carraud, Mathieu Rosemain and Geert De Clercq; Writing by Richard Lough and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Richard Lough and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-21

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[Samui Bodoh]

This is a fascinating story.

 

49 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Many individual managers have been convicted of harassment - and often fired as a result - but not companies themselves.

 

The fact that the company itself, not just individual, isolated people inside the company, is what is significant, and I will be curious as to the global scope of this ruling. Before someone says it, yes, I know that the legal decision applies only in France, but new, significant legal doctrines have a way of spreading about.

 

I will be most interested in what, if any, effect will be felt in the US, especially after the court decision of Citizens United (Citizens United is the shorthand way to describe the US Supreme court decision that companies have certain free speech and other rights, and thus are allowed to make unlimited financial contributions to political speech; yes, this does oversimplify, but...).

 

More specifically, if a company has the right to free speech and other rights protections, then it should really follow that the same company has the responsibility to follow the law (as the old saying goes 'With every right comes a responsibility') and that the company (represented by its legal officers; CEO, CFO, COO, Board members, etc) not just isolated individuals must also be forced to pay a price by going to jail, being fined, etc.

 

For instance, if a company has the right to free speech and advertises regarding its safety record, then an environmental disaster occurs, should the company officers themselves be held personally responsible for the actions of the company? At the moment, the usual response is to declare bankruptcy and walk away; if this new legal doctrine spreads, would that option be removed or limited?

 

if this spreads, and I think it might, it may open whole new areas of legal responsibilities for companies, and that would be a good thing in my view.

 

 

 

[candide]

Engineers sometimes find it difficult to understan that the human factor is not just a factor.