The French Court of Cassation has introduced and defined a new concept of ‘institutional psychological harassment’. The case relates to the suicides of workers linked to a company restructuring policy. Following a series of suicides, a trade union condemned the company’s reorganisation policy which, in its view, amounted to psychological harassment. Following this complaint, the company and several of its senior executives were prosecuted for harassment. This means that directors, senior managers, and employees can now be personally liable for decisions that result in harassment, even when the facts do not arise from their individual relationships with employees, but rather result from a company policy that they have designed and implemented.
