The toll is shocking: 19 suicides, 12 suicide attempts and eight reported cases of serious depression among employees at France's main telephone and internet company over three years. In a long-awaited trial in Paris, the former president of France Telecom defended himself Tuesday against accusations of moral harassment.
Once a state-owned monopoly, France Telecom transformed in the 2000s into a private company, now known as Orange. The company's president at the time, Didier Lombard, launched a restructuring plan aimed at shedding 22,000 jobs, but most employees were still considered civil servants and so were protected from layoffs.
As it sought to reduce staff, an indictment says the company imposed "excessive and intrusive control" on employees, assigned workers to demoralizing tasks, failed to provide training, isolated staff and used "intimidation maneuvers or threats and pay cuts." In 2006, according to AFP, Lombard allegedly told staff: "I'll get people to leave one way or another, either through the window or the door."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-telecom-suicides-president-didier-lombard-defends-himself-court-today-2019-05-07/
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