France Télécom executives are on trial for workplace bullying associated with dozens of worker suicides

Former France Télécom executives are on trial for alleged violations of France’s “moral harassment” code, in a case alleging that systematic bullying tactics were employed to reduce the company’s workforce. During the time in question, 35 workers died by suicide, and many left notes explaining that working conditions had pushed them beyond their ability to endure. Angelique Crisafis reports for the Guardian (link here):

Former executives at France Télécom could face prison over organised workplace harassment that led to a spate of staff suicides a decade ago, as a two-month trial that shocked France draws to a close this week.

French state prosecutors have urged judges to find the executives guilty of moral harassment and hand down the maximum prison sentence of one year, plus large fines, after details emerged in court of the turmoil felt by workers over systematic bullying tactics aimed at pushing staff to leave.

…Between 2008 and 2009, 35 employees took their own lives. The company had been privatised and was undertaking a restructuring plan during which bosses set out to cut more than a fifth of the workforce – more than 22,000 jobs.

Many of the workers who killed themselves left notes saying the company had made their lives unbearable.

France’s moral harassment code allows for both civil (damages to claimant) and criminal (potential prison terms) claims associated with bullying, mobbing, and harassment. The criminal provisions are rarely used, but the allegations behind the France Télécom case are supported by considerable evidence.

Savvy American readers may be asking, if they wanted to reduce their workforce, then why didn’t they simply do a mass layoff? The underlying motivations behind the alleged management actions may reflect fundamental differences in worker protections from country to country. In France, employees have much stronger protections against termination compared to those in the United States, where most workers are subject to the rule of at-will employment, which allows employers to discharge them without cause. In the U.S., in most instances it would be unnecessary to use bullying to reduce a workforce by attrition, because an employer could announce a layoff and — most likely — that would be that.

Of course, in the U.S., we also lack legal protections against workplace bullying. It’s possible that news coverage of the France Télécom trial will buoy efforts to enact workplace anti-bullying laws such as the Healthy Workplace Bill, despite strong corporate and employer opposition.

In any event, it appears that France Télécom’s executives may have opted for severe, targeted bullying as a workforce reduction strategy, instead of other potential methods. I will continue to watch this case closely, and report the results and implications as they develop. I will also revisit a recurring question over whether criminal sanctions should be included in anti-bullying legislation.