Lidl 鈥渉arassed鈥� French employee who killed himself
The supermarket chain Lidl has been heavily criticised after a French court heard it had allegedly 鈥渞epeatedly harrassed鈥� a French staff member who killed himself at work.
Yannick Sansonetti, who was father to a three-year-old, committed suicide in 2015, in a small room at his workplace of Lidl in Rousset, in the Bouches-du-Rh么ne.
He had worked as a security technician at the supermarket since 2009.
Now, an investigation tribunal into his death heard that Lidl had allegedly committed "repeated acts of moral harassment" against the man between January 2014 and May 2015.
The supermarket was accused of having a "management style" that encouraged staff to "take on too much" work; expected "unreachable targets" to be hit; and 鈥渢hreatened the professional future鈥� of employees.
Similar accusations against the supermarket in question had already been made by a consulting committee appointed by the French Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee (the CHSCT, Comit茅 d鈥檋ygi猫ne de s茅curit茅 et des conditions de travail).
Lidl鈥檚 alleged actions have now been linked to the man鈥檚 death.
鈥淲hat is noticeable about this file, is that the inquest appears to reveal that the style of management by this employer was harassment, and that this style of management seems to have led to the man鈥檚 death,鈥� said Laure Daviau, a Marseille lawyer specialising in workplace law, speaking to .
When contacted by in response to the allegations, Lidl said it was unable to comment on the legal issue for now, as Sansonetti鈥檚 family was still taking the group to the civil courts.
Tonight (Tuesday September 26), the France 2 television programme, Cash Investigation with Elise Lucet, will investigate the issue further.
