French executives to stand trial for ‘moral harassment’ a decade after employee suicides
(Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images)
moncler sale outlet About a decadeaftera wave of employee suicides put French telecommunications providerFrance Telecom, now known as Orange, ina harsh spotlight, its former chief executive, six other executives and the companywill facetrial, charged with engaging moncler sale outlet in or assisting with psychological harassment amid a massive restructuring plan between 2008 and 2010, according to Reuters. moncler sale outlet
cheap moncler jackets sale It isreported to be thefirsttime a company of its size in France will face a criminal judgment for a bullying law known as “moral harassment” in the country, which issaid to have one of the world’sstrongerlegal policies against workplace bullying. cheap moncler jackets sale
cheap moncler jackets At the time, the company had about 100,000 employees in France, andreports said the figures were notout of line compared withthe overall suicide rate per 100,000 people in the country. cheap moncler jackets
moncler outlet online Still, the case is a reminder of how different thelegalcircumstances for such cases are in France than in the United States. moncler outlet online
moncler outlet sale “We don’t have an analogue in our country for something like this,” said Debra Katz, a Washington lawyerwho often represents plaintiffs indiscriminationcases. moncler outlet sale
cheap moncler coats “There cheap moncler sale are potential civil claims that could be brought for intentional infliction of emotional distress,” she said, but added that in the United States, moncler sale “those types of claims require extreme behavior not the kind of common indignities and bullying behaviors that take place in many workplaces.” cheap moncler coats
cheap moncler Philippe Thomas, a partner with the global law firm Dechert who wrote a blog post moncler outlet store in 2016 comparing workplace bullying laws in different countries, said what sets French law apart from countries such as the United States is that”bullying inFrance doesn’t need to be moncler outlet linked to discrimination that’s a big, big difference.” cheap moncler
moncler outlet jackets He said the case is the first “moral harassment” case against a work organization to go before a criminal court in France, although civil cases have been bought in the past. (He noted that Dechert represents Orange, but in other unrelated matters.) moncler outlet jackets
moncler jackets outlet [Starbucks’s racial bias training has another goal] moncler jackets outlet
moncler sale France Telecom, a former state owned company, was partly privatized in 1997. As it worked to compete with other private companies, it embarked on ahuge restructuring plan between2006 and monlcer down jackets 2008thataimed tocut head count by 22,000 workers while shifting 10,000 people into new jobs. Unioncritics said that it created a constantfeeling of upheaval and uncertainty and that employees were given meaningless jobs. A 2010 report by labor inspectors said managers used “pathogenic” methods such as forcing people to take new jobs or giving unattainable performance objectives, according to Reuters. moncler sale
moncler outlet store Former chief executive Didier Lombard resigned in 2010 following criticism for management’s handling of the crisis. He was reported to have told senior managers in 2007 that he would https://www.moncleroutletssale.com “get [employees] out one way or another, through the window or through the door.” moncler outlet store
moncler outlet uk The suicides grabbed headlines not only because of their number and because manyreported tobe moncler outlet sale related to workplace stress, but because of their nature: cheap moncler jackets According to media reports, one manjumped off a highway bridge in the French Alps leaving a note blaming the environment at work; a womanthrew herself from a sixth floor window after learning she would get cheap moncler a new boss; a moncler mens jackets man stabbed himself in the stomach moncler outlet online during a meeting (he lived). moncler outlet uk
A spokeswoman for Orangeconfirmed that judges had moved the investigation to trial and said in an emailed statement that “as it has always said, Orange disputes these accusations and will explain its position at the public hearing that will be scheduled in the coming months. In the meantime, it is important to not pre judge persons buy moncler jackets concerned and to ensure strict respect for the presumption of innocence. Orange is a company that is focused on its future development and independent surveys have shown that its employees are proud to work there.”
An email to Jean Veil, a lawyer forLombard, was not immediately returned; Reuters reported that Veil called the cheap moncler coats move “absurd.” Lombard has strongly denied that the actions taken by the company caused the suicides and said in a translation of a 2012 editorial that “at no time” were the restructuring plans aimed at employees, but “were meant to save the company and its jobs, and to open up new ways for its employees in the new digital world.”
moncler factory outlet Sebastien Crozier, whoheads CFE CGC, a trade union that represents workers at Orange (it filed a civil claim and began tracking suicides by employees in 2007), said in a translatedstatementon its website thatthe union “welcomes this Moncler Outlet decision” and that “it is now up to the courts to decide on their criminal responsibility.” moncler factory outlet.