PARIS: The former chief executive of France Telecom and other ex-bosses went on trial on Monday facing unprecedented charges of moral harassment that allegedly prompted 35 employees to take their own lives a decade ago.

The wave of suicides, which shocked France at the time, took place from 2008 to 2009 and raised questions about the workplace culture at the former state telecom giant. The company is now known as Orange after being renamed in 2013.

Former chief executive Didier Lombard, who helmed the company from 2005 to 2010, several other bosses and also Orange itself are on trial for allegedly overseeing institutionalised harassment at the company.

The trial opened at the Paris criminal court nearly seven years after Lombard and France Telecom itself were charged with “moral harassment,” which is defined as “frequently repeated acts whose aim or effect is the degradation of working conditions”.

“For six months I was given nothing to do,” Yves Minguy, a former IT specialist who joined the company in 1973, said before the trial. “They were putting pressure on us to quit.” He was eventually reassigned to another job, “But one morning, without warning, I was told: ‘Put away your things, you’re going to answer phones at a call centre’,” he said.

The hearing at the packed courthouse included civil plaintiffs who are relatives of former France Telecom staff who killed themselves.

“I was told to get people to leave by any means necessary,” a 59-year-old former manager who gave his named as Claude said, referring to his team of 120 workers.

Alongside Lombard, also in the dock on the same charge were the company’s former number two Louis-Pierre Wenes and the former head of human resources Olivier Barberot.

Four others face charges of complicity in a trial set to be closely followed by businesses, unions and workforce experts.

If convicted, they could face a year behind bars and a 15,000-euro ($16,800) fine. The trial could last until July 12. Orange itself could be slapped with a 75,000-euro sanction if found guilty.

Despite France’s labour laws, which are some of the strongest in the world, there have been increasing concerns about the consequences of pressure in the workplace, including depression, long-term illness, professional burnout and even suicide.

Unions and management accept that 35 France Telecom employees took their own lives between 2008 and 2009. Lombard stepped down as a result of the deaths.

Formerly a public company, France Telecom was privatised in 2004, a move which led to major restructuring and job losses.

During the investigation, magistrates focused on the cases of 39 employees, 19 of whom killed themselves, 12 who tried to, and eight who suffered from acute depression or were signed off sick as a result of it.

In July 2008, a 51-year-old technician from Marseille killed himself, leaving a letter accusing the bosses of “management by terror”. Two months later, a 32-year-old woman jumped out of the window of her Paris office as horrified colleagues looked on.

Lombard, who served as chairman and chief executive from 2005 to 2010, also inflamed the situation with remarks that were condemned for being callous.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2019