Former Renaissance MP Sira Sylla, 42, was sentenced on Tuesday by the industrial tribunal of Rouen for the moral harassment of a former parliamentary assistant, to whom she must pay nearly 76,000 euros. The council “notes that the multiple SMS sent by Sira Sylla” to the complainant “contain repeated threats of punishment, contemptuous remarks, reproaches about his pathology”, according to the court decision.
“The repetition of these mailings has degraded the working conditions” of the complainant “as well as his mental health”. Consequently, “the council” “awards him the sum of 20,000 euros in damages for moral harassment”. The industrial tribunal, on the other hand, “did not accept the concealed work” requested by the complainant. The rest of the sum is requested for “breach of safety obligation”, “overtime”, “zero dismissal”, notice indemnity, dismissal indemnity and paid leave.
Tasks that went beyond the scope of his duties
During the May 10 hearing, the lawyer for the parliamentary assistant mentioned that his client had been employed in tasks that went beyond the scope of his duties, according to Paris Normandie. Sira Sylla would have asked him “to keep his dog, as well as to deliver cigarettes and champagne to his home, after 10 p.m.”, in addition to full curfew.
The prud’hommes also pronounce the “termination of the employment contract at the expense of Sira Sylla”, elected deputy in 2017 before being beaten in the first round in June in the 4th district of Seine-Maritime including who Saint-Étienne-du -Rouvray, Le Grand-Quevilly and part of Rouen. “The moral harassment of Sira Sylla” towards the complainant “is a breach of sufficient gravity to prevent the continuation of the latter’s employment contract”, according to the industrial tribunal.
Counsel further states that the plaintiff, “suffering from a major heart condition” did “not communicate his pathology to Sira Sylla when he was hired because it did not prevent him from working”. The ex-deputy had reproached him for it. The parliamentary assistant had been hired on January 9, 2019 and had been off work since September 2021. He was asking for 50,000 euros for harassment and 34,000 euros for null dismissal or, failing that, without cause. According to France Bleu Normandie, he is now considering filing a criminal complaint.
On January 29, 2021, already, the prud’hommes of Paris had condemned Sira Sylla for the moral harassment of another parliamentary assistant. She appealed but could not be reached on Tuesday. According to the local Radio France station, a third complainant was dismissed by the Rouen industrial tribunal in August 2021.