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

...On 23 March 2022, Sherpa, ActionAid France, the Turkish trade union Petrol-Iş and 34 former employees of a Turkish subsidiary of the Yves Rocher Group took the cosmetics company to court before the Paris Judicial Court. 

Since then, 47 new people have joined the lawsuit. They accuse the company of failing to meet its obligations under the French law on the duty of vigilance, adopted in 2017, with respect to the trade union freedom and fundamental rights of workers in its subsidiary in Turkiye. The employees claim to have suffered gender discrimination and serious attacks on their health and safety, including sexual and moral harassment...

When employees joined the Petrol-Iş union to try to improve their working conditions, they were intimidated, threatened and then sacked by the dozens...

The legal action, which now involves 81 plaintiffs, highlights both the structural nature of the Yves Rocher Group’s failings, which have affected a large number of employees, and the need to facilitate access to justice for people affected by the activities of multinationals abroad...

The legal action is now at the pre-trial stage, as the Yves Rocher Group has raised inadmissibility objections.These issues will have to be decided before the case is heard on the merits.