Swedish furniture chain, Ikea, has been fined a million euros for spying on staff in France.
The former CEO of Ikea France, Jean-Louis Baillot, was given a two-year suspended jail term and a fine of 50 000 euros.
According to the BBC, the French subsidiary was found to have used private detectives and police officers to collect private data on staff between 2009 and 2012. Trade unions took legal action after the scandal was exposed by journalists.
The mass surveillance system was used by store managers to vet job applicants, as well as checking up on their staff. The French court was told the system was used to spy on 400 staff.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that, according to court documents, Ikea’s annual bill for private investigators ran to as much as 600 000 euros.
When the trial opened in March, state prosecutor Pamela Tabardel said: ‘What’s at stake is the protection of our private lives against the threat of mass surveillance.’
Ikea France issued a statement in March saying it ‘strongly condemned’ the privacy violations and it apologised for ‘this situation which does serious harm to the company’s values and ethical standards’.
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