By dominiopublico.gov.br, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2498390
A series of tragic incidents within the office of French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has led to the opening of a preliminary investigation by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office. Two suicides, several suicide attempts, and allegations of psychological harassment have prompted the justice system to examine working conditions within the administration at the highest levels of government. While the exact circumstances have yet to be determined, the case is raising questions about the operations of the offices under the authority of the head of government.
The facts revealed in recent days concern the administrative offices attached to the Prime Minister, which employ approximately 3,500 staff members spread across the Hôtel de Matignon and various government agencies. According to the information available at this stage, two employees took their own lives in 2026. Two other individuals are also reported to have attempted suicide, although in one case doubts remain regarding the link to their professional activities.
In addition to these events, a female employee has filed a complaint alleging psychological harassment, claiming she attempted suicide after enduring a continuous deterioration of her working conditions. It was this report that led the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office to open a preliminary investigation into the alleged psychological harassment.
The employee who filed the complaint describes a particularly toxic work environment, characterized by isolation and repeated humiliation. The complaint refers to “institutional psychological harassment,” suggesting that the difficulties stem not only from individual behaviour but from a more general operating culture within certain departments. According to her attorney, several staff members have reported intense pressure from superiors and a loss of direction amid a particularly unstable political climate.
In addition to the judicial investigation, the Prime Minister’s Office has launched three internal administrative investigations. Administrative officials at Matignon—as the Prime Minister’s Office is known—are keen on emphasizing that none of the individuals involved worked directly in the Prime Minister’s office or for Sébastien Lecornu himself.
Nevertheless, working for the French government’s highest authority is not a job like any other. Several accounts gathered by the media establish a direct link between the deterioration of the work environment and the rapid succession of governments since the dissolution of the National Assembly in the summer of 2024.
Over the course of two years, government agencies have had to adapt to several successive prime ministers, each arriving with new priorities, teams, and work methods. This instability is said to have profoundly disrupted certain departments, which have been faced with constant restructuring and significant job insecurity.
This case is reminiscent of other crises that have captured the French public’s attention regarding workplace distress in government agencies, notably the suicides that occurred at France Télécom, the public telecommunications operator, in the late 2000s, which led to the criminal conviction of several executives for institutional psychological harassment. It also comes at a time when suicides affecting certain state agencies—such as the police, the gendarmerie, and the prison system—are regularly the subject of union warnings and prevention plans. Other agencies have been rocked by similar tragedies: for example, in 2025, no fewer than 14 suicides were recorded within a six-month period in the tax administration.
Since the crisis foreshadowed by the dissolution of the summer of 2024, the country has been unable to regain a true sense of balance. It is not surprising that the sense of uncertainty felt by French citizens amid the country’s erratic administration has repercussions for the individual work of civil servants.