Daily harassment. Happy, a 16-year-old teenager landed a work-study program in an earthmoving company in Avesnois (North). He was one week at school and three weeks at the company to learn. Instead of that, the young man suffered daily harassment from his colleagues, and in particular from his supervisor. As usual, things start slowly. Nicknames, then mockery, and finally the red line crossed. In videos sent to his colleagues, he is insulted. The milestone is reached when his internship supervisor and a college force him into a dog cage. He is locked up and the whole thing is filmed and shared on TikTok, as well as to his colleagues. The latter were found guilty of harassment by the Avesnes-sur-Helpe court. The internship supervisor and his colleague did not appear in court.
Harassment without alternation
Despite their absence, the sentence was handed down: they were both sentenced to one year in prison and must pay 2,000 euros in damages to the apprentice’s parents. As a reminder, the young man’s mother became aware of her son’s harassment when he tried to end his life. She then decided to take things in hand and file a complaint. “He is now receiving medication”explained his lawyer in the columns of The voice of the North. For the defense, Me Bighinetti argued that in the building sector, “we don’t have the same relationships between colleagues as in other environments, we may not be aware of the danger”. An argument that prosecutor Matthieu Debris quickly dismissed. “We don’t have to expect people who don’t work in a start-up to behave like animals”, reported the regional newspaper. While one of the accused left to found his own company, the young man is currently continuing his work-study program, still in the same company. Whether it’s age, gender, geography or sector, more than one in three employees have already been the victim of harassment at work.