Harassment. Workplace accidents. Corporate criminal liability

Vouland Avocats assists companies, their directors and their managers facing a harassment report, a workplace accident or a criminal investigation relating to employee health and safety. The firm acts from the first investigations by the labour inspectorate, the police or the public prosecutor, and then before the criminal courts.

Health, safety and psychosocial risks.

A harassment report does not establish an offence.

A workplace accident does not automatically identify a culprit.

But in both cases, the company must act immediately: protect people, preserve relevant material, understand what happened and prepare for the investigations that will follow.

Because an incident at work rarely becomes an isolated criminal case. It also calls into question the organisation, management methods, safety instructions, delegations of authority and the decisions taken before and after the event.

Vouland Avocats assists companies, their directors and their managers facing a harassment report, a workplace accident or criminal proceedings relating to employee health and safety.

When a workplace incident becomes a criminal matter

Employment criminal law comes into play in two very different situations.

The first arises from behaviour or a management policy: repeated remarks, exclusion, pressure, disputed targets, sexist or sexual behaviour, an alleged deterioration in working conditions.

The second results from a physical event: a fall, electrocution, a machine malfunction, exposure to a substance, a site accident or a lack of coordination between several companies.

In one case, the investigation seeks to reconstruct human relationships over time.

In the other, it reconstructs a chain of technical and organisational decisions.

In both cases, the defence must start with the same question:

How did this company really work at the time of the facts?

Harassment: investigating without jumping to conclusions

When a report is made, the company is immediately placed in a delicate position.

It must take the facts seriously without treating them as already established. It must protect the person who made the report without prematurely designating someone as responsible. Finally, it must keep work going without appearing to minimise the alert.

The first difficulty is therefore to organise a response that is neither passive nor hasty.

We assist companies to:

• assess the nature and seriousness of the report;
• determine the appropriate precautionary measures;
• define the scope of an internal investigation;
• preserve emails, appraisals, schedules and HR documents;
• conduct or oversee interviews;
• distinguish between established facts, indirect testimony and opinions;
• analyse the possible disciplinary, employment and criminal consequences;
• prepare dealings with the labour inspectorate or investigators.

The purpose of the internal investigation is neither to confirm an accusation nor to build a defence in advance. It must enable the company to know on which facts it can really base a decision.

Internal investigations. Criminal law audits. Corporate training

Defending a director prosecuted for harassment

In a moral harassment case, the defence does not begin with case law.

It begins with learning about the company.

It is necessary to understand its trades, its constraints, its organisation chart, its vocabulary and its working methods. An instruction given in an industrial company, a healthcare establishment, a newsroom or a technology company cannot be assessed without knowing the requirements specific to that activity.

This knowledge then makes it possible to examine each alleged fact:

• what words or behaviour are precisely alleged?
• are they established by direct evidence?
• were they repeated?
• to whom can they be personally attributed?
• did they fall within a management decision or an abuse of managerial authority?
• did they apply to one person in particular or to a whole team?
• in what operational context were they adopted?
• is there a sufficiently established link with the alleged deterioration in working conditions?

The suffering expressed must be heard. It is not, however, enough on its own to show that all the elements of a criminal offence are present.

The role of the defence is to place each episode back in its context, without denying the human difficulties and without allowing a general climate to replace proof of facts that can be precisely attributed.

The risk of institutional harassment

Since the judgment in the France Télécom case, criminal risk is no longer limited to relations between a superior and a specific employee.

The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation has accepted that a company policy may constitute moral harassment where its purpose is to degrade the working conditions of all or some employees in order to achieve a managerial, economic or financial objective, or where it knowingly produces such an effect under the conditions defined by the criminal provision.

A reorganisation, a headcount reduction plan or an appraisal policy is not, by nature, harassment. But the methods by which they are designed and implemented may now be examined by the criminal court.

This development directly concerns management bodies and human resources managers.

It requires the ability to explain:

• the purpose pursued;
• the methods chosen;
• the decision criteria;
• the alerts received;
• the corrective measures adopted;
• the resources given to the managers responsible for implementing the policy;
• the assessment of its consequences for employees.

The business decision does not disappear before criminal law. It must be capable of being understood and documented.

Harcèlement sexuel d’ambiance

Workplace accidents: reconstructing the chain of prevention

After an accident, looking for a technical cause is essential. It is not enough to determine criminal liability.

The investigation also seeks to establish:

• whether the risk had been identified;
• what preventive measures had been planned;
• whether the equipment was compliant and maintained;
• whether instructions had been communicated and understood;
• whether employees had received appropriate training;
• who had the power to decide and the means to act;
• how the companies present on the site coordinated their work;
• whether a previous incident or alert should have led to a change in organisation.

Liability cannot be deduced mechanically from being a director, site manager or employer.

It requires examining each person’s involvement, the causal link and, for individuals who did not directly cause the harm, the nature of the fault that may be alleged against them.

We act in particular in cases concerning:

• fatal or injury accidents on construction sites;
• falls from height;
• accidents involving machinery and work equipment;
• electrocutions;
• chemical or industrial risks;
• handling and lifting operations;
• co-activity and subcontracting;
• accidents in establishments or on sites open to the public;
• prosecutions for unintentional injury or manslaughter;
• endangering the lives of others;
• breaches of occupational health and safety rules.

The first hours often determine what follows

After a serious accident or the disclosure of a sensitive situation, several processes begin at once: rescue, securing the site, informing the authorities, relations with employees, the labour inspectorate’s investigation and sometimes a police or gendarmerie investigation.

At this moment of crisis, the company must avoid two pitfalls: losing the material needed to understand the facts, or producing, in a hurry, incomplete explanations that will later be used against it.

We act from the first hours to:

• organise criminal law assistance for the company and its representatives;
• identify immediate reporting and information obligations;
• preserve documents, recordings and technical material;
• prepare interviews of directors and operational managers;
• attend searches, voluntary interviews and police custody;
• analyse findings and official reports;
• coordinate the defence with employment law advisers and technical experts;
• prepare internal and external communication with the relevant professionals.

The aim is not to fix a version of the facts too early. It is to enable the company to respond accurately, methodically and consistently.

Labour inspectorate: understanding its powers, reviewing the procedure

The labour inspectorate has its own powers to access workplaces, consult mandatory documents, take statements and record offences within its jurisdiction.

Its official report can play a decisive role in the public prosecutor’s decision and in the rest of the trial.

The defence must therefore examine:

• the competence of the officers who intervened;
• the conditions under which they made their findings;
• the documents collected;
• the people interviewed;
• compliance with the applicable rules where the director is personally suspected;
• the distinction between facts observed, reported testimony and interpretations;
• the conditions under which the company was informed of facts that may constitute an offence.

Defending the company does not mean obstructing the inspection. It means making sure that the conclusions drawn from it are based on a lawful, complete and adversarial investigation.

Company and director: interests to be examined separately

The company and its director may be prosecuted in the same proceedings. Their interests, however, are not always the same.

In an accident case, the discussion may focus on delegations of authority, operational responsibilities and the resources actually granted.

In a harassment case, the company may take the view that the behaviour alleged was personal and unrelated to its policy. The director may, on the contrary, argue that the disputed decisions were part of the normal exercise of their duties and of the organisation decided by the company.

These divergences must be identified before the first interviews.

We analyse in particular:

• the conditions for engaging the liability of the legal entity;
• whether the person implicated is an organ or representative of the company;
• the validity and scope of delegations of authority;
• whether separate counsel may be needed;
• who bears the cost of the defence;
• the insurance policies that may be called upon;
• exposure to damages before the criminal, employment or administrative courts.

A strategy that protects the individual may sometimes weaken the company. The reverse is also true.

Prevention: building an organisation that can explain itself

Article L. 4121-1 of the French Labour Code requires employers to take the measures necessary to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of workers.

These measures include prevention, information and training, as well as the establishment of an appropriate organisation and resources.

Prevention cannot therefore be reduced to an archived risk assessment document or periodic training.

It must be reflected in the way the company operates.

We assist directors, legal departments, HR directors and HSE managers to:

• map employment-related criminal risks;
• review the single occupational risk assessment document (DUERP) and how it relates to actual risks;
• review delegations of authority and the chart of responsibilities;
• structure reporting and internal investigation procedures;
• prepare the response to a serious accident;
• train directors and operational managers;
• organise role-plays for an inspection, an interview or a search;
• analyse the risks linked to co-activity, contractors and subcontracting.

A useful prevention system is not one that promises that no accident or conflict will ever occur.

It is one that reduces risks, makes it possible to detect alerts and gives the company the means to demonstrate the decisions it has taken.

Examples of our work

The firm has acted in particular in the following situations:

• defence of a company director prosecuted for moral and sexual harassment;
• defence of an elected representative accused of moral harassment within their administration;
• defence of a construction sector director after the death of an employee by electrocution;
• defence of a construction company prosecuted following a fatal site accident;
• assistance to civil parties after the collapse of a concert stage in Marseille;
• representation of families in the proceedings concerning the rue d’Aubagne building collapses.

This experience, both in defence and alongside victims, enables the firm to understand the human, technical and judicial consequences of a collective accident or a deterioration in working conditions.

Frequently asked questions

What should a company do after a harassment report?

It must take the report seriously, check whether immediate protective measures are needed and preserve relevant material.

It should then assess the nature of the facts, the urgency and the context in which they were reported in order to determine the appropriate investigations. The company must avoid both inaction and the premature designation of someone as responsible.

Is an internal investigation always mandatory?

There is no single answer for every situation.

The need for an investigation, its scope and its method depend on how precise the report is, its seriousness, the people concerned, internal rules and the employer’s obligations to protect physical and mental health.

An unnecessarily broad investigation may destabilise the organisation. Conversely, an insufficient investigation may allow the risk to persist and weaken subsequent decisions.

Does demanding management amount to moral harassment?

No, not in itself.

Criminal moral harassment requires repeated words or behaviour meeting the conditions laid down in Article 222-33-2 of the French Criminal Code. The analysis must focus on the acts precisely alleged, their repetition, their context, their attribution and their possible consequences for working conditions.

A professional demand may be legitimate. The way it is applied may nevertheless become open to criminal debate when it takes the form of repeated practices meeting the elements of the offence.

Can a general company policy amount to harassment?

Yes, in certain circumstances.

Since the France Télécom judgment of 21 January 2025, a company policy may fall within the scope of institutional moral harassment where it meets the conditions precisely defined by the Court of Cassation.

Not every reorganisation or drive for performance is therefore criminal. What must be examined are its objectives, its methods, its foreseeable effects and the directors’ knowledge of them.

Is the director automatically criminally liable after a workplace accident?

No.

The accident triggers a search for causes and responsibilities. It is not enough, on its own, to establish an offence.

It is necessary in particular to examine the role of the person prosecuted, their duties, their skills, the powers and resources available to them, the steps they took and their link with the harm.

Does a delegation of authority automatically protect the director?

No.

Its existence is not enough. Its precision, scope and timing must be checked, as well as the competence, authority and resources actually granted to the delegate.

The delegation must also match the reality of the organisation. A purely theoretical allocation of responsibilities rarely withstands scrutiny in a criminal investigation.

Can the company be prosecuted together with an individual?

Yes.

A legal entity may be criminally liable for offences committed on its behalf by its organs or representatives. This liability does not exclude that of individuals who may have taken part in the same facts.

The defence must determine whether their interests allow a joint strategy or require separate counsel.

What documents should be preserved after an accident?

The answer depends on the activity and the nature of the accident. The following may be relevant in particular:

• the DUERP and its previous versions;
• prevention plans and safety protocols;
• delegations of authority;
• evidence of training and authorisations;
• manuals, inspections and maintenance logs;
• safety instructions and safety meeting minutes;
• schedules and site documents;
• photographs, videos or technical data;
• exchanges relating to earlier alerts or incidents.

These items must not be modified or reconstructed after the event. They must be kept in their original state and analysed methodically.

Can the company and its director have the same lawyer?

This is possible where their interests are sufficiently aligned.

This alignment must, however, be checked at the start of the case and reassessed during the proceedings. A divergence over the origin of decisions, the scope of a delegation or the personal nature of a behaviour may make separate defences necessary.

Vouland Avocats — Marseille and Paris

Vouland Avocats assists companies, directors, HR directors and operational managers facing a harassment report, a workplace accident or criminal proceedings relating to employee health and safety.

We act from the moment of the alert or accident, during internal and administrative investigations, and then before the criminal courts.

Do you need to deal with a report, respond to the labour inspectorate or prepare the company’s defence after an accident?