By: Guardian
June 15, 2021
The home furnishings group Ikea has been ordered to pay €1.1m (£861,000) in fines and damages by a French court after being found guilty of spying on staff.
Two former Ikea France executives were also convicted and fined over an elaborate scheme to gather information on hundreds of employees, job applicants and even customers over several years, using private detectives and police sources.
The group’s former chief Jean-Louis Baillot was handed a suspended two-year prison term and ordered to pay €50,000.
Ikea’s former head of risk management Jean-François Paris, who was accused of being at the heart of the spying system, was handed a suspended 18-month prison term and a fine of €10,000.
They were found guilty of “receiving personal data by fraudulent means”, though the sentences were less severe than sought by prosecutors, who accused them of illicitly carrying out “mass surveillance”.