Paris: The former chief executive of France Telecom and other ex-bosses went on trial Monday facing unprecedented charges of moral harassment that allegedly prompted 35 employees to take their own lives a decade ago. The wave of suicides, which shocked France at the time, took place from 2008 to 2009 and raised questions about the workplace culture at the former state telecom giant.
The company is now known as Orange after being renamed in 2013. Former chief executive Didier Lombard, who helmed the company from 2005 to 2010, several other bosses and also Orange itself are on trial for allegedly overseeing institutionalised harassment at the company.
The trial opened at the Paris criminal court nearly seven years after Lombard and France Telecom itself were charged with "moral harassment," which is defined as "frequently repeated acts whose aim or effect is the degradation of working conditions".
"The court wants to understand how a company, which had a workforce of close to 100,000 at the time, functioned," said the presiding judge, Cecile Louis-Loyant. "It wants to understand why some employees killed themselves," warning that emotions, both spoken and unspoken, could run high during the trial.
A psychologist would be on hand throughout and a victim support office had been set up.
"For six months I was given nothing to do," Yves Minguy, a former IT specialist who joined the company in 1973, told AFP before the trial. "They were putting pressure on us to quit." He was eventually reassigned to another job, "But one morning, without warning, I was told: 'Put away your things, you're going to answer phones at a call centre'," he said.
The hearing at the packed courthouse included civil plaintiffs who are relatives of former France Telecom staff who killed themselves. "I was told to get people to leave by any means necessary," a 59-year-old former manager who gave his named as Claude told AFP, referring to his team of 120 workers.
Alongside Lombard, also in the dock on the same charge were the company's former number two Louis-Pierre Wenes and the former head of human resources Olivier Barberot. Four others face charges of complicity in a trial set to be closely followed by businesses, unions and workforce experts.
If convicted, they could face a year behind bars and a 15,000-euro ($16,800) fine. The trial could last until July 12. Orange itself could be slapped with a 75,000-euro sanction if found guilty.
Despite France's labour laws, which are some of the strongest in the world, there have been increasing concerns about the consequences of pressure in the workplace, including depression, long-term illness, professional burnout and even suicide.
Unions and management accept that 35 France Telecom employees took their own lives between 2008 and 2009.
Lombard stepped down as a result of the deaths. Formerly a public company, France Telecom was privatised in 2004, a move which led to major restructuring and job losses.
During the investigation, magistrates focused on the cases of 39 employees, 19 of whom killed themselves, 12 who tried to, and eight who suffered from acute depression or were signed off sick as a result of it.
In July 2008, a 51-year-old technician from Marseille killed himself, leaving a letter accusing the bosses of "management by terror". Two months later, a 32-year-old woman jumped out of the window of her Paris office as horrified colleagues looked on.
Lombard, who served as chairman and chief executive from 2005 to 2010, also inflamed the situation with remarks that were condemned for being callous. He admitted he had committed "an enormous gaffe" by speaking of a "suicide fad" at the company. And in 2006, Lombard had told staff in now notorious comments: "I'll get people to leave one way or another, either through the window or the door." He resigned in March 2010.
The investigating magistrates' summary of charges, a copy of which was seen by AFP, accuses Lombard of putting in place "a corporate policy aimed at undermining the employees... by creating a professional climate which provoked anxiety".
Hundreds of people protested outside the courthouse ahead of the trial opening, urging that justice be served for the former executives.
"My life today is ruined," said former France Telecom employee Beatrice Pannier, 56, who joined the company in 1982 and has been on sick leave since she tried to kill herself in 2011. "The moment of truth has arrived." Patrick Ackermann of the SUD union said he expected that the "former executives are convicted... that they express remorse and they recognise they crossed the line." Jean Perrin, whose brother had worked for France Telecom until he committed suicide, also said he wanted the managers "to say sorry to the families."
"We want them to acknowledge what they've done. How can anyone draw up such a policy?" asked Raphael Louvradoux, whose father set fire to himself in front of a France Telecom building in Bordeaux 2011.
The trial marks the first time that representatives from a blue-chip company in France's CAC-40 stock index have gone on trial for moral harassment.
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