Ikea fined $1.3 million over spying campaign in France
A French court ordered home furnishings giant Ikea to pay some 1.1 million euros ($1.3 million) in fines and damages over a campaign to spy on union representatives, employees and some unhappy customers in France.
Two former Ikea France executives were convicted and fined over the scheme and given suspended prison sentences. Among the other 13 defendants in the high-profile trial, some were acquitted and others given suspended sentences.
Adel Amara, a former Ikea employee who helped expose the wrongdoing, called the ruling “a big step in defense of the citizen .... It makes me glad that there is justice in France.”
The panel of judges at the Versailles court found that between 2009 and 2012,
Ikea’s French subsidiary used espionage to sift out troublemakers in the employee ranks and to profile squabbling customers.
Ikea France was convicted of receiving personal data obtained through fraudulent means in a habitual way, and ordered to pay 1 million euros in fines and about 100,000 euros ($121,225) in damages.
Ingka Group, which owns and operates most Ikea stores, noted in a statement after the verdicts that the French retail operation “has strongly condemned the practices, apologized and implemented a major action plan to prevent this from happening again.”
“We will now review the court’s decision in detail and consider if and where any additional measures are necessary,” the group said. (AP)