Ikea France fined €1m for staff privacy breaches

Ikea France has been fined €1m (£862,101) after its former CEO, Jean-Louis Baillot, was found guilty of collecting private data on some 400 staff, according to the BBC.

As a result of being found guilty by a French Court, Baillot was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail term and €50,000 (£43,112) fine.

The story first broke in 2012 when the French trade association, Force Ouvrière, took legal action to shed light on the “illegal practices” by Baillot and filed a complaint against the fraudulent use of their personal data.

The retailer was accused of obtaining the data by using Eirpace, a private security firm which in turn collected it from the police. It included information about employee lifestyles and any former criminal convictions.

As a result of the company’s involvement, Jean-Pierre Fourès, the boss of Eirpace, also received a two-year suspended sentence and a €20,000 (£17,222) fine.

Once the news was out, IKEA responded by firing four of its managers and instigated a new code of conduct.

Also present at the hearing were “top executives and former store managers” as well as four police officers who similarly found themselves on trial for handing over confidential information to Baillot.

An Ikea spokesperson said: “Ikea Retail France has today received the court’s decision. Ikea takes the protection of co-worker and customer data very seriously.

“Ikea Retail France has strongly condemned the practices, apologised and implemented a major action plan to prevent this from happening again.”

They added: “We will now review the court’s decision in detail and consider if and where any additional measures are necessary.”