Frenchman takes employer to tribunal over tedious, too little work.

Frédéric Desnard, 44, claims his job was so dull he suffered a ‘descent into hell’ similar to burnout, but less interesting

A Frenchman who claims he was given so little to do at work he suffered “bore out” is taking his case to an employment tribunal on Monday.

Frédéric Desnard says his managerial job at the perfume company, which made him redundant 18 months ago, was so tedious he became exhausted and literally bored out of his mind.

The 44-year-old said his “descent into hell” was similar to a burnout, but less interesting.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in France, Desnard is seeking €360,000 (£282,000) in compensation and damages – including holiday pay, he says, is due.

French press reporting his claims have taken the unusual step of using the English term “bore out” to describe what Desnard, who lives in Paris, claims to have suffered.

Desnard complained that between 2010 and 2014 he was mise en placard, or put in the cupboard by his then employer Interparfums, a French phrase that involves giving employees little or no work, or menial tasks.

He told Agence France-Presse he was relegated to doing tasks that had nothing to do with his job and deprived of his original responsibilities. This, he alleges, left him “destroyed” and with “serious depression”.

“I was ashamed of being paid for doing nothing,” he said.

Desnard claimed the stress and lack of stimulation at work triggered an epileptic fit when he was driving.

Source.

Do you guys agree with this man?

I wouldn't mind having his problem. If my employer wants to pay me for doing nothing, you won't hear me complaining.

.. Define doing nothing.. If he isn't allowed to basically do anything stimulating where he just sits in a room by him self for 8 hours on end and it goes against his contract between him and the company.. I can see this being legitimate..

The company most likely wanted him to quit instead of firing him. Him quitting would be cheaper.

/thread

If he is suffering from depression, maybe he needs to fill his time better. If they are paying him to sit on the shelf, he should spend his time on the shelf doing something that makes him happy. Writing comes to mind. Hell, people worldwide cant even find jobs doing menial tasks.....

just need to find a new/better job if unsatisfied, in my case its just always a bit difficult to make the first step out of a 'familiar' situation ... but for me the job market is something were a) I know I am needed and b) I know I can demand something for my own comfort because of this ... in the end you simply have to ask the question 'is there something others could want from me (skill wise) without me even advertising myself?'

the good thing about a 'liberal' society is, that because Money is no Problem and no existence threatening force like in egoistic and patriotistic societys, you can come up with whole new sorts of questions about your self and your 'profession' ... its a step ion the right direction ... it means freedom of choice for the individual

I've been in a similar situation in short bursts (it kind of comes with my career, but only for hours or days at a time) before I learned how to adequately fill those bursts with meaningful tasks, and even for those short bursts it suuuuuuucks. I cannot emphasize enough how terrible it is to have nothing to do while on the clock.

It's not something I would sue over, but I feel his pain.

Also, obligatory XKCD:

Sounds like the company was reducing his workload to such exstent that they hoped he would quit on his own rather then have them fire him, possibly cause in his contract if they had fired him then they might have to pay out a "parachute" ( money compensation)

While if he had quit then they're not obligated to do so.

Sid Hoffman?

or

Sid Frenchman?

My god, as long as checks clear, forget the stapler and just be creative in the broom closet, or whatever area they decide to move your desk.

This is actually a good thing because this tactic is used by some companies to try to force employees they can't fire to quit, basically making them go in dull boring white walled rooms and require them to sit for 8 hours with no stimulation in an effort to force them to quit, not sure if this is what he endured here but I find the tactic when use to be purposefully creating a hostile work environment, hopefully this case sets precedant against such tactices, the purpose of doing this is to force employees to quit to avoid paying severance, unemployment, benefits, and such, and in my opinion is an abuse of the employee by the employer.

In US employers are able to fire employees for any reason, but again you gotta pay benefits of sorts if obligated like unemployment, sometimes mandating healthcare coverage until that person finds a job or gets further coverage, severance if it's covered in their employment contract. Again, forcing people to quit is done to avoid this by making them quit instead of having the employer fire them. Other things employers do is lie about reasons for firing someone which is actually illegal. Again, employers are allowed to fire anybody for any reason but if simply electing to do so then employer has obligations, if they lie and say do it for disciplinary infractions that are trumped up they're attempting to skirt law by avoiding their obligations; this is illegal and employers get sued for it.

This case is more interesting than people realize. All you're getting is the superficial qualities of the story like "oh, he gets paid for not working, who wouldn't want that job". Also, in a way, it's unfair to the employee as its a dead end in their career and pretty much a hole in their skills, experience and qualification that hinders their abilities to find meaningful work to replace their current job that's shunning them.

@lamprey263: Maybe there's a reasonable answer, but, couldn't the person just read all day?

Maybe take a few classes and then basically have 40 hours of pure study time a week?

that would probably be a violation of company policy, they're probably prohibited in occupying their downtime as they see fit

and since the company's whole goal is to let go of someone without providing unemployment, severance, or health insurance, and other perks, they could probably let someone go for disciplinary reasons if they chose to bring books to read to work when their job is to simply stare at a white wall in a quiet room closet for 8 hours, if it was for workplace infractions they could also skirt those benefits if they chose to fire someone so yeah they're probably not allowed to study, or read for fun, or bring a video game, or surf the internet, or bring schoolwork, I doubt they even get a computer as that would be far too stimulating

I'm thinking get books to discretely read on one's phone lol