The “inexcusable fault” of the SNCF, which had refused to recognize the professional nature of the suicide of one of its employees, was confirmed by the Amiens Court of Appeal.
On May 21, 2018 in the early morning, Julien Pieraut, 27, employee of the SNCF East European technician center in Bobigny, was deliberately hit by a train on a level crossing while he was going to work. The SNCF maintained that it had never heard of Julien Pieraut’s psychological difficulties due to his professional activity.
The SNCF “could not ignore the difficulties of its employee”
Julien Pieraut lived in Aisne, about a 2.5 hour drive from his workplace. He reported to his employer in 2015 “concerns due to transport”, then requested a transfer to Picardy the following year, recalls the Amiens Court of Appeal in its judgment delivered on December 10. Instead, the SNCF offered him a new assignment at the end of 2017, still in the Paris region, with increased working hours and exposing him to early morning work seven days a week.
Even though this proposal aggravated his travel problems, Julien Pieraut finally accepted this new position, requesting in return a raise and help in his search for accommodation closer to his work, requests which were left unanswered.
The SNCF “could not ignore the difficulties of its employee, who had informed it of them on several occasions”, as well as the psychosocial risks that these could cause, according to the court of appeal.
Parents compensated €40,000 each
This confirmed in every respect a first instance judgment rendered last year, which awarded Julien Pieraut’s parents compensation of 40,000 euros each for their respective moral damage. The SUD-Rail union welcomed this decision.
“Resounding trials” such as those on serial suicides at France Telecom or on the railway accidents in Brétigny (2013) and the TGV-Est (2015) “question work, its conditions of execution and its organizations”, recalled the union in a press release published Tuesday. For its part, the SNCF did not wish to comment to AFP on its new conviction on appeal in this case.
