Enlarge image
Ikea branch in France: privacy violated
Photo: PASCAL GUYOT / AFP
A French court has fined Ikea one million euros.
The judges saw it as proven that the French subsidiary of the Swedish furniture company had illegally collected and stored data on some of its employees.
The spying actions have taken place over several years and have violated the privacy of those affected, it says in the judgment. Bank accounts have been screened and in some cases dossiers have been made, which in individual cases do not even correspond to the truth. The public prosecutor had demanded a fine of two million euros.
The perpetrators included several branch managers and employees of the human resources department as well as a private detective and police officers. Jean-Louis Baillot, the former head of Ikea-France, was also found guilty in the case and sentenced to two years' probation. He also has to pay a fine of 50,000 euros. The prosecutors limited their indictment to the misconduct in the years 2009 to 2012, although there was evidence that the espionage had already started in the early 2000s.
The furniture store acted guilty after the verdict.
It will be checked whether further measures beyond the already initiated measures are necessary in order to avoid such incidents in the future.
"Ikea France has strongly condemned the practices, apologized and implemented a comprehensive plan of action to prevent this," said a statement.
mik / Reuters
