Didier Lombard, chief executive of France Télécom, was summoned this week to a meeting with Xavier Darcos, the French labour minister. It put them both in an awkward spot. Mr Darcos was there both as a government official and a shareholder – the French state still owns 27 per cent of the telecommunications giant. Mr Lombard’s position was even less comfortable. He was there to explain why 23 of his employees have killed themselves in the last 18 months.

On Bastille Day, the body of Michel Deparis, a 53-year-old Télécom employee, was found in Marseille alongside a suicide note identifying his employers as the “only reason” for his death. Trade unions had been warning for two years that Télécom’s business model subjected workers to unconscionable levels of stress. They were quick to extend Mr Deparis’s explanation to other recent suicides at the company, including two more last week. On the surface, their case has a certain logic. But it is wrong.