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Shopping carts in front of a Lidl branch: charged with homicide
Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
More than six years after the suicide of an employee, the discounter Lidl has been charged with a homicide in France.
This was announced by the lawyer for the brother and the mother of the deceased.
The 33-year-old Yannick S., a technician at Lidl in Rousset near Aix-en-Provence, had committed suicide at the end of May 2015.
An appeals court in Aix-en-Provence had already sentenced Lidl at the beginning of 2020 for neglecting its duty of care and obliged to pay 35,000 euros to the widow, 30,000 euros to the son and 25,000 euros to the mother of the deceased.
The court referred to "very strong pressure from management" that had been placed on Yannick S. and his colleagues.
Further charges of bullying
The warehouse workers were "exposed to an inadequate amount of daily work."
After the suicide, Lidl hired three people to do the tasks that Yannick S. was previously entrusted with.
With regard to the new indictment, the company merely stated that it was available to the judiciary and did not want to comment on an ongoing case.
Along with the homicide charges, charges of bullying were brought against a former Lidl branch manager in Rousset in another case.
Patrice T., the name of the person allegedly affected, was "bullied" in the company and suffered from burn-out, said his lawyer.
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rai / AFP
