France Télécom (B): A Wave of Staff Suicides

In the B case we learn that at least 19 France Telecom employees took their own lives between 2006 and 2009, 12 others attempted suicide, and eight suffered from serious depression for reasons reportedly related to work. Some of these deaths occurred in public places, others on company grounds.

Labor inspector Sylvie Catala conducted an investigation and found that the “lack of consideration of psychosocial risks in the restructuring is the result of a policy implemented throughout the country… and that the company’s top executives put pressure on middle management, who passed on this pressure to workers.” She concluded that the company’s actions likely “endangered human life” and constituted “moral harassment.”