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Moral harassment at France Telecom: the ex-CEO says he is "marked for life" by the "suffering" of employees

2022-05-11T16:48:19.907Z


Didier Lombard was sanctioned, on December 20, 2019, at first instance, with one year in prison, including eight months suspended, and a fine of 15,000 euros, following a series of employee suicides.


The former CEO of France Telecom Didier Lombard pleaded his innocence and said he was "

marked for life

" by the "

suffering

" of his former employees, Wednesday in Paris at the opening of the appeal trial of former leaders of the group for institutional moral harassment.

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Didier Lombard and the former number 2 Louis-Pierre Wenès had been sanctioned, on December 20, 2019 in first instance, with one year in prison, including eight months suspended, and 15,000 euros fine, an unprecedented conviction following of a series of employee suicides.

Facts that I deny having committed

”, declared Didier Lombard before the court.

There are “

things that I would have liked to avoid (…) but which are not the consequence of measures decided centrally

”, continued the former boss, 80 years old.

Louis-Pierre Wenès spoke to him of a “

humanly difficult judgment

”, which “

filled him with anger, emotion and incomprehension

”.

In 2019, the court noted their “

preeminent role

in the implementation of a "

hard-line

" workforce reduction policy over the 2007-2008 period at France Telecom, which became Orange in 2013.

First CAC 40 company sentenced for "moral harassment"

Until July 1, the two former leaders appear with four other former managers of the company, sanctioned by four months in prison suspended and 5000 euros fine at first instance, for complicity in moral harassment.

All were present at the hearing which was attended by around forty civil parties.

I came "

to support all our colleagues (civil parties editor's note) and not to forget all the victims that it could have done in our company

", told the press Annie Martin, employee of the company since 1983. "

This case has been a terrible drama and it is a test.

And until the file is finished, it will be a test and an open wound

“said Me Jean-Paul Tessonnière, lawyer for several civil parties.

A company that had become the symbol of suffering at work at the end of the 2000s and the first company in the CAC 40 to be condemned for institutional "

moral harassment

", France Telecom had for its part not appealed the judgment which had sanctioned it with the maximum fine, 75,000 euros.

Read alsoSuicides at France Telecom: "

I can't do anything about it

" proclaims the former CEO Didier Lombard

The group, recognizing "

the suffering of its employees

" but denying being "

a breeding ground for widespread harassment

", thus wanted to "

turn a page on part of (its) history

", its representative said on Wednesday.

The company's ex-HRD, Olivier Barberot, sentenced to one year in prison, including eight months suspended, and a fine of 15,000 euros, had withdrawn from the appeal initially lodged.

All the defendants had also been ordered to jointly pay more than 3 million euros in damages to the civil parties, former employees and families of victims.

In its judgment, the correctional court had insisted on the extent of the moral harassment which had spread from the top to the

targeted several tens of thousands

of people.

"

Accusing us of having set up a three-party conspiracy (Didier Lombard, Louis-Pierre Wenès and Olivier Barberot Editor's note) to harass employees is to misunderstand the functioning of a company like France Telecom

", underlined Mr. Lombard.

"

No movement can be decided without consulting the local committees

" where the employees sit, he pleaded.

Massive workforce deflation policy in 2006

The court had scrutinized the cases of 39 employees: 19 had committed suicide, 12 had attempted to do so and eight had experienced an episode of depression or a work stoppage.

During 2006, the management of France Telecom, privatized two years earlier, had implemented a policy of massive deflation of the workforce targeting 22,000 departures and 10,000 transfers via two plans from 2007 to 2010, the period to which the trial relates.

Read alsoFrance Telecom trial: one year in prison required against ex-CEO Didier Lombard

This policy responded to “

the need to continue the transformation of the group

” in the face of the technological challenges of the evolution towards digital and “increased

competition

”, Didier Lombard estimated on Wednesday.

At the hearing in 2019, the defendants spoke of voluntary departures.

A "

simple display

", had estimated in its judgment the court, for which the management, alerted to the "

inaccessible

" nature of the objective of 22,000 departures, had made the choice "

of a forced march policy

" using of "

prohibited

" means

".

By forced functional or geographical transfers, reductions in remuneration, or even repeated emails encouraging departure, the managers had, according to the judgment, "

degraded the working conditions of France Telecom agents in order to accelerate their final departures from the company.

".

Source: lefigaro

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