New conviction for abuse of an employee on Facebook
The Paris court has sentenced Tuesday to 500 euro fine suspended an employee of the operator call center Webhelp Caen to have posted insults to his employer on Facebook. The 17 th Criminal Division said the employee, guilty of “public insult” to be published in November 2010 on the Facebook profile CGT-FAPT Webhelp phrases: “Day of shit time shit job to shit, shit box heads of shit ” , and “I do not like small chefaillons who play big” .
The management had sanctioned the laying off five days. The court ordered the employee to 500 euro fine and a suspended pay one euro in damages to each of the three plaintiffs (Webhelp, Webhelp Caen and the supervisor of the employee). He also ordered the publication of the sentence on the board of the company union at the expense of the defendant, within the limit of 150 euros.
At the hearing on November 22, Mr. Kerry, shop steward and member of the health, safety and working conditions (HSC), recognized to have posted these words in “a particular context” , a day after the suicide of a colleague in which management does not want an investigation. “offending expressions exceed the limits of acceptable criticism, including when exercised in a union” , the court ruled.
