Man Sues Former Boss for Making His Job Boring

Frédéric Desnard says he was unfairly sidelined
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2016 7:40 PM CDT
Guy Sues His Former Employer for 'Boring Him to Death'
   (Shutterstock)

Bored at work? Then consider Frenchman Frédéric Desnard, who is suing his former employer for allegedly boring him out of his mind and damaging his health, the Guardian reports. The 44-year-old Parisian claims he suffered from "bore out" (a twist on "burn out") after his employer, a perfume company, reduced the manager's job to menial tasks from 2010 to 2014. Desnard calls it a "descent into hell" that left him "destroyed" and constantly crying, the Local France reports. "I was depressed, and ashamed of being paid for doing nothing," he says. He also claims to have suffered from sleep problems, epilepsy, and ulcers, per the Telegraph. "The worse part of it was denying this suffering," adds Desnard, who was laid off in 2014 after taking seven months' sick leave from work.

Now he's taking his case to an employment tribunal that began Monday. Desnard is seeking about $413,000 in damages and compensation, including missed holiday pay, and says the company bored him intentionally so they could ditch him without paying unemployment compensation. But the company's lawyer, Jean-Philippe Bénissan, says Desnard has "no proof" and changed his complaint from "burn out" to "bore out" as a tactical ploy. "He never said anything about being bored during the four-year period," says Bénissan. France's higher court has already recognized 244 cases of workers "intentionally sidelined" and deemed it "moral harassment," while a researcher says up to 30% of French employees are suffering from "bore out," France Info reports. (More employment stories.)

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