Reflections on the Significance of the France Télécom Trial in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The France Télécom trial has had considerable impact across the international stage and especially in the United Kingdom where work-related suicides are still not recognized, counted or regulated. This article examines the legal and moral scope of the France Télécom trial as a potential model for progressive regulatory reform in UK workplaces. The article describes a campaign by researchers and trade unionists to urge the Health and Safety Executive to fulfil its duty to regulate work-related suicides. The aim of the campaign was to exert international pressure on the Hse, by showing that its position put British workers at risk and to highlight its abnormal, even negligent stance compared to that of other countries. The article presents the British legislative context around mental health and work-related suicide and shows the extent of current research on work-related suicides in the United Kingdom, as opposed to the French context. Faced with the Hse’s stance that treats suicide as an individual mental health problem unrelated to work, the France Télécom case has been a positive model of legal recognition and social justice.