A French court has ordered IKEA to pay €1 million for spying on their employees in France having used staff data inappropriately.
According to CNN Business, the Swedish furniture retail giants’ “spying system” has seen its French subsidiary put on trial by a court in Versailles on Tuesday alongside 15 employees, including former executives.
Court documents state that the system had been used to target both current and prospective employees between 2009 and 2012.
Jean-Louis Baillot, IKEA France’s former CEO, has received a two-year suspended jail sentence as judgement has also fined him €50,000. Baillot has continued to plead not guilty to these charges.
The judgement also examines how private investigators were hired by IKEA France to obtain secretive information on current and prospective staff.
The company has responded to the verdict stating as quoted by CNN Business, “IKEA France has always strongly condemned these old facts and has apologized for this situation which seriously undermined the company’s values and ethical standards.”
They are also to have said that they have already implemented measures to ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen again.
Meanwhile, French labor union Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), described the verdict’s result as “a great victory for workers.”