They don’t really understand why they are here this Thursday, in front of the Bordeaux criminal court, possibly recognizing “bad jokes” between colleagues. Five defendants, all employees of the Veynat transport company, appeared for acts of sexual harassment and, for two of them, sexual assault committed between January 1, 2015 and July 6, 2022 at the company’s headquarters in Tresses, in Gironde. The company and its manager, as legal entities, are being prosecuted for “unintentional injuries” (read box).
Simply recognizing “clumsiness”, “rotten humor” or “heavy flirting” towards their female colleagues, none of the defendants expressed regret in the stand. And only one of them is said to have apologized after trying to have sex with a cleaning worker. In this case, one victim filed a civil suit and 12 others, including the cleaning worker, complained of inappropriate behavior on the part of their male counterparts. For some of these testimonies and in the absence of a civil party, the prosecution took up the case in which the public prosecutor, Perrine Lannelongue, goes so far as to speak of “acculturation to sexual harassment at Veynat” .
Make employees say “truck” to touch their chest
The defendants are executives, apart from one of them who is an operations agent, with salaries between 3,100 and 12,000 euros and all have a very particular sense of humor. One of the popular games of this group was, for example, to make the employees say “truck” in order to touch their chest. Jean-Baptiste M., prosecuted for “sexual harassment” and “sexual assault”, declared during his hearing that “inappropriate behavior could take place but under the influence of humor”. On the stand, he speaks of “rude and teasing relationships”. Prosecuted for touching the chest of an employee, he explains that he awkwardly wanted to look at her necklace driven by “spontaneous curiosity” but “that in hindsight, it was intrusive”.
Prosecuted for the same facts, Joaquim P. denies the acts of sexual harassment but acknowledges “a little harsh” behavior towards a young woman who came to clean the company’s premises. Questioned by President Cyril Vidalie, he ended up admitting half-heartedly that he was paying her repeated compliments and that, not being on good terms with his wife, he was “trying to seduce her”. For her part, she will explain having rejected Joaquim P. on several occasions, having received a photo of him of a sexual nature and that he tried, one day, to pin her against a wall to go further. On April 30, 2021, she will report the facts. Joaquim P. will be sanctioned on May 4 by human resources (a warning).
“An insecurity of female staff in the company”
Defendants prosecuted for sexual harassment have also massively resorted to euphemism. Simon C., for example, exchanged comments on professional messaging that were very unremarkable. He assailed him with sexual propositions (a very explicit “cunnilingus”). He will receive a warning on June 11, 2021 for “managerial misconduct” after a visit to the office of the director of human resources. “It was schoolboy, gritty and stupid but we knew there would be nothing else, it never went further,” he defended himself this Thursday.
Jean-Marie B. was known in the company for emitting “suggestive grunts à la De Funès”, details the president, sometimes as employees passed by. During confinement, this commercial director with an imposing build, now followed by a psychologist, sent a video of himself masturbating in his office, not as he wanted to a long-time client but, inadvertently, to a list of company contacts. “We are not always smart in the profession,” declares Anthony L at the bar. If he strongly denies the authorship of a ranking of “fuckable girls in the company”, the executive recognizes, for his part, for sending photos of sexy outfits that he suggested his colleague wear to Hellfest. “The humor I used was poorly received. »
On orders from the public prosecutor’s office, the labor inspectorate worked in conjunction with the gendarmerie on this “Veynat affair”, and its report shows that it has little taste for the humor in force. She points to “an insecurity of female staff in the company” and in terms of preventing sexual harassment, she believes that “the company is very, very far from regulatory expectations”. Example, according to the president of the court: in May 2021, a new feature appears in the internal regulations which now stipulates the ban on miniskirts “to avoid disturbances”. A version denied by Veynat who simply sees it as inappropriate clothing for working on tanks, just like shorts, tank tops and flip-flops.
The prosecutor requested eighteen months of suspended prison sentence for the defendants prosecuted for sexual harassment and 20 and 24 months for the two others, also tried for sexual assault.