IKEA Ordered to Pay $1.2 Million Fine
for Spying on French Workers.
On June 15, the French branch of Ingka Group, which owns
most of the world’s IKEA stores, was fined $1.2 million. .
A French court ruled that
the retailer was guilty of
spying on its staff through
the improper gathering and
storage of employee data.
This includes breaching their employees’ privacy by
reviewing bank account records and sometimes writing up
reports on staff via fake employee profiles.
According to worker
representatives, this
snooping often targeted
union leaders.
It was also used to give IKEA an inappropriate advantage in
customer disputes by sifting through people’s financial records.
Ingka Group has since released a statement saying
they “strongly” condemn and apologize for their actions. .
IKEA Retail France has strongly
condemned the practices, apologized
and implemented a major action plan to
prevent this from happening again, Ingka Group, via Reuters.
France is IKEA’s third-biggest market
after Germany and the United States. .
The furniture retailer has about
10,000 employees in France.
