“Thank you, goodbye”: after 40 years of career at Auchan, she is rewarded with a medal… after being made redundant

The reward has something bitter for Yolande Descamps. After 40 years of work at Auchan, this sixty-year-old who worked in the town of Roncq, near Tourcoing (North), was awarded a Grand Gold medal for the good and loyal services she provided to the distributor. The person concerned, however, finds it difficult to smile: the day before her departure, last Saturday November 23, she was simply dismissed, tell our colleagues from The Voice of the North.

She does not owe her departure to the national layoff plan presented by the firm a few weeks ago: Auchan had in fact announced some 2,389 job cuts in the country. Yolande, who was recognized as a disabled worker, believes she was the subject of “disguised job termination based on inability to work”. The former employee suffered from burnout for a long period before seeking to return to the company, in an administrative department. But the positions offered to him were far from suitable for his disability. The rest will be up to the industrial tribunal.

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NARRATIVE. Auchan: how the brand went from a champion of mass distribution in the North to a group in difficulty

And then an unfortunate coincidence of the calendar. Every year, Auchan organizes a medal ceremony: a distinction which is given to several employees chosen by management. Yolande was entitled to an interview prior to her dismissal… the day before the festivities. For the sixty-year-old, the coincidence was somewhat strange: on the one hand it was “thank you for your investment”, on the other “thank you, goodbye”.