Snapshot

In March 2022, two French NGOs, a Turkish trade union and former employees of Kosan Kozmetik, a Turkish subsidiary of the Yves Rocher Group, filed a lawsuit against the company in France. They alleged that the Yves Rocher Group violated the French Duty of Vigilance Law by union busting and violating other fundamental labour rights of non-discrimination and employee health and safety.

Factual Background

Kosan Kozmetik, a Turkish subsidiary of Yves Rocher Group, has been manufacturing beauty products under the brand name Flormar for the Yves Rocher Group since 2012. Between March and September 2018, over 130 employees of the subsidiary, majority women, were dismissed after joining the Turkish trade union Petrol-Is.

Legal Argument

NGOs Sherpa, Action Aid France, 34 former employees and the trade union Petrol-Is argue that the Yves Rocher Group violated the 2017 French Duty of Vigilance Law. They assert that the Yves Rocher Group did not comply with its obligations to establish and publish its vigilance plan in accordance with that law.

According to the NGOs, the publication of Yves Rocher Group vigilance plan occurred in 2020, after being put on notice by these organisations in April 2020. However they argue that the plan failed to identify human rights risks and set up processes to prevent workers’ human rights abuses. The claimants have requested the court to order the Yves Rocher Group to take appropriate preventative measures and pay damages for harm suffered by the employees and the union.

In response to the lawsuit, the Yves Rocher Group has raised inadmissibility objections.

Legal Proceedings

In March 2022, the NGOs and employees of the Turkish subsidiary filed a lawsuit against Yves Rocher at the Paris judicial court. Since then, 47 new people have joined the lawsuit. The case is at pre-trial stage. An admissibility hearing is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2024.

News Items

French cosmetics company Yves Rocher facing court proceedings for failure to ensure freedom of association and workers’ rights in Turkey, Sherpa, 24 March 2022

Workers’ rights in Turkiye: 47 former employees join the lawsuit against Yves Rocher, Sherpa, 15 November 2023