Ikea's French subsidiary, prosecuted alongside former officials for having illegally spied on several hundred employees and customers between 2009 and 2012, was fined one million euros on Tuesday.
The prosecution had demanded the double against the subsidiary of the Swedish furniture giant.
Massive employee surveillance
Ikea France and its managers at the time were suspected of having illegally inquired about customers and employees, their criminal record, their lifestyle or their heritage via a company "in business consulting" Eirpace, which would have drawn these confidential data in police files. The civil parties, including many unions, have requested through the voice of their lawyers an "exemplary judgment" and several million euros in damages.
During the two weeks of a sometimes heated trial in Yvelines, Ikea France was tried alongside fifteen other defendants, former company directors, store managers, police officers and the boss of a private investigative company. . They blamed each other for accusations, including the unlawful collection and disclosure of personal information or breach of professional secrecy.
