The decision has arrived that gives justice, even if only in the first instance, to the 35 employees of France Telecom who committed suicide at the end of the 2000s, following a ferocious restructuring plan decided by the company in 2005, which included 22.000 cuts to staff. The Paris court found guilty of "harcèlement moral", translatable with what today would be called mobbing, 7 managers of the time, including the managing director Didier Lombard, who obtained the maximum sentence or one year in prison (of which 4 effective months and another 8 suspended with probation) and a 15.000 euro fine. The same punishment for his deputy Louis-Pierre Wenès and for the then director of human resources Olivier Barberot, while the other 4 executives, accused only of complicity, were given 4 months on probation and a 5.000 euro fine.
Lombard has already announced that he will appeal, but in the meantime the judge has acknowledged, fully accepting the prosecution's requests, that the top management actively acted, through proven psychological pressure, to "destabilize" the employees so that their exit could be considered "voluntary and natural". The pressures manifested themselves above all through forced transfers, unjustified salary reductions and emails urging resignation. A first procedural truth has therefore emerged, bringing to light, after 10 years, a story with very heavy social and media implications, which had triggered very strong controversies in France. In particular, in July 2009, the letter left by a Marseille technician before taking his own life caused a sensation: “Management terrifies me. I commit suicide because of Telecom, there is no other cause”.
In addition to the suicides, the Tribunal looked into 12 cases of attempted suicide and 8 cases of illness due to depression. While the former top management will present an appeal, the company, which is now called Orange, has instead decided to send a message of peace to the unions, not only renouncing the appeal but making itself available to open a procedure to compensate the families of the confirmed victims.
