Suicide at work | M6 | 66 minutes

mother of two, committed suicide. She was 42 years old. For several years she had found it hard to take the pressure of work and claimed she was bullied by her boss. To put an end to her agony, she threw herself into the icy waters of the River Ain. The police found a suicide note in her car parked nearby. Isabelle Béal’s suicide is not an isolated case. Similar cases have been on the increase over recent months. The highest profile cases have been reported in major companies like EDF, Peugeot and Renault. In four months, four employees at the prestigious Renault Technocentre in the Paris area took their own lives. But the phenomenon is more widespread. Last year a survey noted nearly 400 work-related suicides in France; more than one a day, and not only in major companies. Every year, the association combating bullying run by Loic Scoarnec receives 30,000 distress calls from employees. The subject is even more taboo because certain companies encourage bullying. Bullying has been considered a criminal offence in France since 2002, liable to a prison sentence of one year and a fine of 15,000 euros. One employee in ten is subject to this abuse.