The ex-boss of France Telecom and six other former executives have gone on trial in Paris, accused of moral harassment linked to a spate of suicides among employees.
Didier Lombard and his fellow defendants deny their tough restructuring measures were to blame for the subsequent loss of life. The company, since renamed Orange, is also on trial for the same offence. Thirty-five staff took their lives between 2008 and 2009.
Some of them left messages blaming France Telecom and its managers. At the time, the newly privatised company was in the throes of a major reorganisation.
Mr Lombard was trying to cut 22,000 jobs and retrain 10,000 workers. Some employees were transferred away from their families or left behind when offices were moved, or assigned demeaning jobs.
“I’ll get them out one way or another, through the window or through the door,” Mr Lombard was quoted as telling senior managers in 2007. If found guilty, the defendants could each face a year in prison and £12,800 in fines.
