For several years, the firm has been handling cases involving senior civil servants, directors and executives who are being prosecuted for alleged psychological harassment, often at the direct instigation of the civil party, to challenge sanctions, refusals of promotion or measures taken against them by their employer.
Several cases currently being handled by the firm also highlight the emergence of new types of harassment, known as ‘structural’ or managerial harassment, based on a complaint that employees have been wrongfully exposed to a risk of excessive workload, burnout or depression; these cases centre in particular on increased expectations for companies to set an example in the management of psychosocial risks, and are often accompanied by preliminary investigations by the labour inspectorate, which has been granted extended powers and responsibilities in criminal matters.
Alongside these cases of psychological harassment in the workplace, the firm also handles cases of personal harassment.
In the field of criminal employment law, the cases entrusted to us frequently involve disputes between social partners, managers and companies concerning various offences, such as obstruction of the information and consultation process, as well as matters relating to health and safety, undeclared work, or the unlawful supply of labour… Like those relating to harassment, these disputes are often initiated by a direct summons from civil parties, or following an investigation conducted by the labour inspectorate that is particularly favourable to the prosecution.