A judicial investigation for aggravated homicide has been opened following two suicides and one attempted suicide by La Poste employees in the Rhône, in 2017 and 2018, the Lyon prosecutor’s office declared on Friday, October 11.
An investigative judge oversees investigations of “involuntary manslaughter aggravated by the manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence in the context of work, involuntary injuries in the context of work, moral harassment at work and endangering the lives of others”the prosecutor’s office told Agence France-Presse, confirming the information of Half part. “No charges have been made at this time.”he added.
According to investigative media, the labor inspectorate submitted a report to the court following the suicides of a postman and a mail carrier, as well as the attempted suicide of a postman in the space of eleven weeks between the end of 2017 and 2018. Three were employees at the Corbas mail preparation and distribution platform, located in the southern suburb of Lyon, then in the midst of reorganization, and were on sick leave at the time of the events, it states Half part.
The Corbas headquarters began its second reorganization of mail distribution rounds in just two years, and these reforms had direct consequences on the working conditions and health of employees, according to an independent expert opinion by the firm Secafi, from 2019 and that Half part was obtained.
The labor inspection, for its part, had classified “pathogen” the context on the platform, and given the lack of reaction on the part of the company a possible “endanger others”according to the research media.
Lyon deputies and elected officials warn of “intense stress”
A 30-year-old employee of the site committed suicide in December 2017 and an employee at the end of his career did the same in March 2018. In late 2017, one of his colleagues, also at the end of his career, abandoned on foot and without a phone heading to the ocean, hundreds of kilometers from his home, with the aim of ending his life, according to online media.
He was found in a forest in Corrèze, where he lived in isolation, with frostbite on both feet, leading to a double amputation, according to a ruling by the Lyon administrative court of appeal in 2022, which rejected a request from the postman. “recognition of responsibility in the service of his professional burnout and his suicide attempt”.
Reorganizations continue at La Poste in the Rhône. During the week of October 7, 2024, deputies and elected officials in Lyon questioned the Minister of Public Service, Guillaume Kasbarian, about the planned closure of three post offices in the metropolitan area of Lyon.
“The instability linked to reorganizations and staff reductions in the agencies of the La Poste group are a source of intense stress for employees and a general deterioration in working conditions observed by the unions”they wrote in their joint letter.
