A spate of suicides at a leading French company will see a number of top executives stand trial over alleged workplace bullying. 
 
 The former head of France Telecom Didier Lombard, six other executives and telecoms operator Orange, formerly France Telecom, are to be taken to court over their alleged role in a wave of staff suicides. 
 
 They are accused of engaging in or assisting psychological harassment, according to the court order. 
 
 An April 2010 report from labour inspectors found that 19 employees took their own lives, 12 attempted suicide and eight suffered from deep depression or were forced to stop work as a result. 
 
 Unions said that more than 35 had ended their own lives, according to French newspaper Le Monde. 
 
 France Telecom, which has since become Orange, was hit by the wave of employee suicides beginning in 2008. 
 
 Among the cases was a man who killed himself during a staff meeting. 
 
 The suicides continued in 2010, with five workers dying in one 10-day period. 
 
 Image: A number of employees took their own lives 
 
 Mr Lombard, who denied any wrongdoing during an investigation of the suicides, stepped down as CEO of Orange in early 2010 amid criticism of his handling of the crisis. 
 
 The former chief, an ex-human resources head and a deputy CEO have been placed under court supervision until trial. 
 
 "As it has always said, Orange rejects the accusations and will make its case during the public hearing which will be scheduled in the coming months," an Orange spokesman said. 
 
 Jean Veil, Lombard's lawyer, said the move was "absurd". 
 
 The labour report alleged the company used harsh restructuring methods such as forcing people into new jobs and giving unattainable performance objectives. 
 
 The restructuring plan allegedly aimed to reduce France Telecom's headcount by 22,000 while shifting 10,000 people into new jobs and recruiting 6,000 new employees. 
 
 "This must serve as an example so that management never again uses social violence to get people to leave," said the head of the CFE-CGC union at Orange, Sebastien Crozier. 
 
 The crime of "moral harassment" can be punished with two years in prison and 30,000 euros ($35,000) in fines. 
 
 :: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. ||||| Image caption The man set himself alight shortly after arriving at work 
 
 A France Telecom worker has committed suicide by setting himself on fire in a work car park, management and unions have said. 
 
 The 57-year-old employee, who had four children, had worked for the company for over 30 years. 
 
 He is reported to have had several transfers within the firm in recent years, which he was unhappy about. 
 
 There were more than 30 reported suicides in 2008 and 2009 at the company which employs 100,000 people. 
 
 The suicide took place at France Telecom premises at Merignac, near Bordeaux, in southwestern France. 
 
 'Overwhelmed' 
 
 "The whole staff is completely overwhelmed with emotion," trade union representative Sebastien Crozier told AFP. "All of Bordeaux is in tears." 
 
 Another union representative said the man was local and had set himself alight on arriving at work. 
 
 France Telecom is one of the country's biggest employers and also runs the major mobile provider Orange. 
 
 Unions had blamed restructuring and work pressure at the firm for the deaths in 2008 and 2009, saying that some staff were being left behind in the firm's transformation from a government agency to a private company. 
 
 But France Telecom says the rate of suicides is statistically not unusual for a company with such a large workforce. 
 
 Criticism about the way the company handled the suicide crisis led to the resignation of its deputy CEO in October 2009. ||||| Photo: Tahir Hashmi/Flickr 
 
 A Parisian man claims that he was given such boring tasks at work that he suffered a "bore out", and is now seeking a serious payout in compensation. 
 
 You're probably familiar with the term "burnout" - which has led to many exhausted employees needing time off or quitting their jobs - but have you heard of a "bore out"? 
 
 That's the word (yes, in English) that the French media are using for what they're calling an unprecedented court case in France. 
 
 The case revolves around 44-year-old Parisian Frédéric Desnard, who quit his supposed managerial role in a perfume business because he was bored out of his mind. 
 
 He accuses his former employers of giving him menial tasks at work for a full four years, which he describes as "a descent into hell", reported 20 Minutes newspaper 
 
 The Frenchman said he was relegated to doing tasks that had nothing to do with his job as a manager after being stripped of his real responsibilities. 
 
 He claims he was left "destroyed" and would cry constantly. 
 
 "I was depressed, and ashamed of being paid for doing nothing," he told Le Point newspaper 
 
 The lack of stimulating work took its toll on Desnard, who quit in late 2014 after suffering from anxiety, depression, and an epileptic fit while driving. 
 
 The lawyer of the perfume company, however, responded by saying that Desnard "never said anything about being bored during the four-year period". 
 
 "And if he actually had nothing to do over these years, why didn't he mention it?" the lawyer added. 
 
 The case will be taken on in an employment tribunal in Paris on Monday. 
 
 Desnard is seeking over €360,000 in damages and missed pay, which included holiday pay and missing out on a potential promotion. 
 
 While the French media has been referring to it as the first case of a "bore out" in French court history, one French researcher estimated that around 30 percent of French workers suffer from "bore outs", reported France Info 
 
 Jean Claud Delgènes whose firm Technologia specializes in risks to employees said the phenomenon of “bore-out” can occur when a member of staff feels they have no mobility to progress but is also unwilling to take the risk of changing jobs. "The problem today with boredom at work is that people are afraid to leave their jobs to do something else," he told Europe 1 radio. And the reasons are pretty straightforward: high unemployment and the difficulty of making yourself stand out in the labour market. 
 
 Perhaps the perfume worker was inspired by another Frenchman, Charles Simon, who made waves in France last year after it emerged he had been paid more than €5,000 a month by state rail operator SNCF over a period of 12 years, despite not working for a single day. 
 
 He then demanded to be paid €500,000 compensation for effectively being cut adrift, albeit with his salary intact.
– Several top executives of a French telecom are slated to stand trial for employees who killed themselves in what prosecutors have called a culture of "moral harassment," the BBC reports. France Telecom's former CEO, Didier Lombard, and six managers are facing $35,000 fines and two years in prison if found culpable of workplace bullying. The alleged harassment occurred after France Telecom was privatized and executives tried restructuring the company in 2006, partly by slashing 22,000 jobs and retraining thousands of others. "I'll get them out one way or another, through the window or through the door," Lombard told top managers in 2007. The apparent fallout was brutal, with at least 19 workers killing themselves (union reps say it was 35) and one taking his life during a staff meeting, Sky News reports. One employee fatally set himself on fire in an office parking lot in 2011, the BBC reported at the time, and a female worker attempted suicide after hearing she would be transferred for the third time. But French Telecom, now called Orange, plans to dispute the charges. "I forcefully reject that plans that were essential to the survival of the company could have been the cause of the human tragedies cited by the complainants," Lombard wrote when the harassment probe began in 2012, reports the Financial Times.