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A French court has ordered IKEA to pay a €1 million ($1.2 million) fine for spying on its French employees. The world's largest furniture retailer was found guilty of improperly collecting and storing data on its employees. Prosecutors insisted on a €2m fine, Reuters reports.
French subsidiary Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA shops worldwide, was accused of spying on its employees and some customers for several years. The prefabricated furniture company, which admitted to having some inappropriate practices, was accused of breaching employee privacy, including looking at their bank account records and sometimes using illegally obtained data to compile reports on employees.
Employee representatives said the information had in some cases been used to attack union leaders or to benefit IKEA in disputes with customers. The company was found to have looked into people's finances and even what cars they drove, and paid to access police data.
France's IKEA employs around 10,000 people. It is its third-largest market after Germany and the US. The company is experimenting with new formats in the country and opened a store in the heart of Paris in 2019.
source: cnn.com
French subsidiary Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA shops worldwide, was accused of spying on its employees and some customers for several years. The prefabricated furniture company, which admitted to having some inappropriate practices, was accused of breaching employee privacy, including looking at their bank account records and sometimes using illegally obtained data to compile reports on employees.
Employee representatives said the information had in some cases been used to attack union leaders or to benefit IKEA in disputes with customers. The company was found to have looked into people's finances and even what cars they drove, and paid to access police data.
France's IKEA employs around 10,000 people. It is its third-largest market after Germany and the US. The company is experimenting with new formats in the country and opened a store in the heart of Paris in 2019.
source: cnn.com
