“You blonde”, “good for nothing”: an employee of Polish origin harassed at work by her superior

“Polish”, “you blonde”, “good for nothing”. The words attributed to managers of the Novacoop fruit cooperative, based in Bessens (Tarn-et-Garonne), resonate like so many stigmata for a former saleswoman of Polish origin. For two years, between 2018 and 2020, this employee said she experienced an “ordeal”, denouncing repeated moral harassment behavior on the part of her superiors.

In September 2020, after a new episode that she describes as humiliating, the employee filed a complaint against two key figures in the company: the founder and director, Cédric M., and the station manager, Latifa K. The case , entrusted to the labor inspectorate, led to a hearing at the Montauban judicial court, where the two defendants appeared on Tuesday November 26, 2024.

A deleterious atmosphere

Since the events, the actors in this affair have left, willingly or by force, the agricultural cooperative. At the bar of the court, Cédric M., 52 years old, now converted into a goat cheese producer, contests the charges brought against him.

Dressed in a gray sweater and jeans, tall and bald, he wants to be reassuring: “I have kept two years of cordial exchanges on my email WhatsApp.” The former manager mentions the “advantages” granted to the complainant, such as her “free Wednesday afternoons” or even missions abroad with the company Blue Whale.

Nevertheless admitting to having lost his temper once, in September 2020, he justifies this outburst of anger: “I lost my temper that day. She had taken poor quality products.”

His collaborator, Latifa K., also prosecuted for harassment, defends herself vehemently. “I never harassed her,” she says, referring on the contrary to efforts to “protect” the employee. Described by several witnesses as “angry”, “despotic”, even “tyrannical”, the former station manager, veiled in a black scarf and dressed in loose clothing, categorically refutes these accusations.

“Why do they say that then?” asks the president, Emmanuelle Yvert.

-It all started after Mr. M. left, she explains. The new director influenced the employees. I wasn’t well either.”

Overwhelming testimonies

Faced with these denials, testimonies are accumulating and painting a portrait of an authoritarian, even brutal, leadership. Employees describe a station manager monitoring her employees via the video surveillance cameras installed on the site, which she consulted from her home.

Speaking with a Polish accent, the victim tells the stand of his descent into hell: “I wanted to work with mutual respect. This affair plunged me into severe depression. I thought about suicide, because these two people destroyed my life.” Still receiving psychological support, the ex-saleswoman remains marked by these years of suffering.

“Management by terror”

The deputy prosecutor does not mince her words: “There is a despot and an accomplice. It is management by terror.” Evoking around ten damning testimonies, she requires 8 months of suspended prison sentence against Latifa K. and 6 months of suspended prison sentence against Cédric Mangin.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, M^e Sandrine Farrugia, deplores “daily” harassment practices and demands a provision of 2000 euros in compensation for the moral damage suffered by her client.

M^e Jean-Michel Rey, Latifa K.’s advisor, depicts a woman who “started from nothing” to become station manager in 2004. “She managed around a hundred employees with intense delivery peaks. Yes, she raised her voice, but this is not a tea room in the 16th arrondissement of Paris,” he quips.

For her part, Me Amélie Villageon, lawyer for Cédric Mangin, criticizes the weakness of the investigation. “The prosecution had requested two dismissals for lack of a sufficiently serious offense,” she pleads, demanding the release of her client.

Former director acquitted, station manager sentenced

After a month of deliberation, the court ruled. Cédric M. is acquitted but Latifa K. is found guilty of moral harassment. She receives an 8-month suspended prison sentence and will have to pay a provision of 2,000 euros to the victim.