Committed to fighting harassment

At TF1, we take intimidation and harassment very seriously. We have adopted a position of zero tolerance, with a strict line of action :
-    ALERT people about the kind of action that offends against human dignity.
-    PROTECT employees where they believe they have been the victims of harassment.
-    SHARE best practice on eliminating violence in the workplace.

OUR INTERNAL POLICY

We have taken a variety of practical measures within our company, including:
Signing up to the anti-harassment and sexist behaviour charter published by the charity “For women in the media”, which supports women working in the media.
Joining "StOpE", a charter against casual sexism in the workplace.
Designating members of the Works Council and human resources staff members as anti-harassment representatives providing information, advice and support.
Training management to make them aware of the early warning signs of intimidation and harassment.
Setting up a whistle-blowing system to enable victims, witnesses, occupational health professionals, and members of the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee or the Works Council representative, to flag up inappropriate behaviour and report it to their line manager or the human resources department (whistle-blowing and complaints procedure).
Setting up an investigatory procedure enabling the victim, witnesses and the alleged perpetrator to be heard. The procedure may lead to decisions ranging from reorganisation measures to dismissal for gross misconduct.
Do not forget that such behaviours constitute a criminal offence under article 222-33 of the French Penal Code.

USING OUR CONTENT TO RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS

As a media group we also have a duty to use our channels to sensitize the public to these issues, raise awareness and encourage people to express their opinions on them. Many of our news programmes – as well as dramas like Le jour où j'ai brûlé mon cœur, L'Emprise and Jacqueline Sauvage, and daily soaps like Demain nous appartient and Ici tout commence – deal with intimidation and harassment, and more generally, violence against women.

The TF1 group has set up a whistle-blowing platform which is accessible here, in support of the group’s ethical stance and to provide staff and third parties with an additional resource so everyone can play their part in upholding ethics and averting related risks.

Who can be a whistle-blower?
Any employee or temporary external service-provider (temporary staff, interns or employees of a subcontractor company) who fulfils the following three conditions. They must :

-    have no direct pecuniary interest in the whistle-blowing;
-    be acting in good faith, i.e. have a reasonable belief that the alleged facts are true when they are notified, and be in a position to establish or produce objective supporting data;
-    have personal knowledge of the alleged facts, as regards information obtained outside the context of their professional duties. For information obtained in the course of their professional duties, the whistle-blower may report facts not known to them personally;

What type of situation can be the subject of whistle-blowing ?
Whistle-blowing is general in its scope. So it may relate to :

-    All crimes (such as aggregated theft, rape, forgery of public documents) and misdemeanours (corruption, misconduct in public office, revolving door corruption, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, intimidation or sexual harassment, discrimination, etc);
-    Any violation or attempt to conceal a violation of an international commitment, EU law, or other law or regulation;
-    Any violation of an international treaty;
-    Any violation of a law or legal judgment;
-    Any threat or harm to the public interest;

-    And generally, any behaviour or situation contrary to the Code of Ethics of the TF1 group or the compliance programmes applicable to TF1 group employees.

What guarantees does the whistle-blower have ?
Whistle-blowers are protected in a number of ways :

Strict confidentiality:

-    The identities of the whistle-blower and the people involved in the case are confidential, as is information obtained in connection with the procedure.
-    Information that enables the whistle-blower to be identified may only be disclosed with the whistle-blower’s consent.
-    The identities of all third parties mentioned in the whistle-blowing alert are protected.
-    There is a prohibition on unauthorised staff members obtaining access to information on whistle-blowing alerts.

A prohibition on moves, attempts or threats to carry out acts of career reprisal (e.g. suspension, redundancy, intimidation, discrimination, relocation, reduction in salary). In the case of abusive whistle-blowing, the whistle-blower may be subject to the penalties stipulated in the Penal Code for false accusation, as well as disciplinary proceedings.

The whistle-blower is not criminally liable: the whistle-blower and any accomplices are not liable if they have abstracted, misappropriated or concealed documents and any other material containing information which they have discovered legally, and which the whistle-blower mentions or discloses in accordance with the law.

The whistle-blower has no civil liability : any person who flags up or discloses information publicly in compliance with the law has no civil liability for loss caused by their flag or public disclosure provided they had reasonable cause to believe, when they acted, that the alert or public disclosure of such information was necessary to safeguard the interests in question.

Financial support : in the event the whistle-blower is financially disadvantaged, or in the form of legal aid in the case of acts of reprisal

Psychological support: specified by the external authorities

Financial sanction  in the event the whistle-blower is intimidated, or if abusive or dilatory legal action is taken: a civil fine of up to 60,000 euros

Who may benefit from an extension of whistle-blower protection in the event of retaliation?

Facilitators: any private law physical person or non-profit-making legal person who helps the whistle-blower give an alert or make a disclosure;

Physical persons linked to the whistle-blower in the context of their professional activity, who may be subject to reprisal by their employer, customer or end-user of their services;

Controlled legal entities who work with a whistle-blower or are in contact with the whistle-blower in a professional context

To whom and how should the facts of the alert be notified?
Within the TF1 group, the Ethics Officer, Julie Burguburu, is responsible for receiving whistle-blowing alerts and ensuring that a response is given to the whistle-blower. If the whistle-blower believes that the facts go beyond the TF1 group, the alert may be sent to the Ethics Officer of the Bouygues group.