French Court Rules Orange Guilty of 'Moral Harassment' After Workers' Suicides
December 20 2019 - 8:36AM
Dow Jones News
By Mauro Orru
A French court on Friday ruled that telecommunications company
Orange (ORA.FR) and its former chief executive were guilty of
"moral harassment" as part of a restructuring linked to a number of
suicides at the company in the last decade.
A Paris court imposed a 75,000-euro fine ($83,432) on the
company, formerly France Telecom, and charged several former
managers with moral harassment between January 2007 and December
2008. The alleged actions were part of an effort by the company to
reduce its workforce.
Orange said it wouldn't appeal the decision.
The tribunal also gave jail terms to former managers, including
former CEO Didier Lombard. Mr. Lombard was sentenced to a year in
jail and fined EUR15,000. A period of eight months of the sentence
was suspended.
Mr. Lombard has previously denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer
didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.
"Independently of this decision, the group previously decided in
July 2019 to create a compensation commission to review individual
situations," Orange said in a statement.
The company said the commission is examining the first dossiers
submitted by individuals or beneficiaries who were at the company
between 2007 and 2010 to thrash out compensation terms.
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 20, 2019 08:21 ET (13:21 GMT)
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