French court rules Ikea must pay 1m euros over employee spying case

Prosecutors claim the furniture giant spied on more than 400 employees and job applicants since the early 2000s

Ikea Retail France was ordered to pay a €1mn fine for spying on shop employees and applicants from 2009 to 2012 (AFP via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, a French court found Ikea Retail France guilty of storing employee data that was gained improperly, and fined the furniture giant €1mn (£861,000).

The French subsidiary of Ikea was accused of setting up an elaborate system to spy on hundreds of employees and job applicants from 2009 to 2012.

Using private detectives and police, it was alleged the company was able to breach employees’ privacy by viewing their personal bank records. Fake employees were also used to write up reports on Ikea staff, it was alleged.

Jean-Louis Baillot, Ikea France’s former chief executive was also found guilty and received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a €50,000 fine (£43,000) for his role in the scheme.

Prosecutors, who claim the snooping scheme had been ongoing since the early 2000s, had asked for a fine of €2mn (£172,000 ) and three-year prison sentence for Mr Baillot.

Fifteen people, including several store managers, police officials, and the head of a private security firm faced allegations of wrongdoing in the case.

Throughout the case, Mr Baillot consistently denied any wrongdoing. Instead, he blamed Jean-François Paris, the group’s former head of risk management, who has admitted sending lists of people’s names to private security firm for “testing”, Yahoo Finance reported.

The court heard that personal information had been requested by Mr Paris in one case where an employee “had suddenly become a protester”, as Mr Paris wanted to know whether there might be a risk of “eco-terrorism”. In another case, an employee’s privacy was breached when Mr Paris wanted to know how an employee could afford to drive a brand new BMW.

In March, state prosecutor Pamela Tabardel said some 400 people had been illegally targeted by a “mass surveillance” programme and urged judges to send a “strong message” on illegal spying on employees.

“What’s at stake is the protection of our private lives against the threat of mass surveillance,” she said.

Following Tuesday’s court ruling, an Ikea spokesperson said: “Ikea Retail France has today received the court’s decision. IKEA takes the protection of co-worker and customer data very seriously.

“Ikea Retail France has strongly condemned the practices, apologised and implemented a major action plan to prevent this from happening again. We will now review the court’s decision in detail and consider if and where any additional measures are necessary.”

Ikea is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and was founded in 1943.