France has reportedly opened judicial and internal investigations into the French Prime Minister’s Service (SPM) after two of its employees committed suicide, and several others have attempted suicide, over the past few months.
SPM hosts some 50 secretariats, directorates, and missions, as well as other independent bodies, at the Hôtel Matignon, the official residence of the French prime minister.
On Monday, French public radio channel France Inter reported that labor unions had requested to meet with SPM leadership in early June regarding the situation. Following these meetings, an internal investigation into an employee’s suicide attempt, which had previously been stalled, was approved.
The unions were also able to get SPM to commit to broader investigations into risks in all of its offices, France Inter claimed, which is expected to be conducted over the next few months by an external firm.
"All we want is to restart a healthy dynamic for everyone," a staff representative told France Inter.
France Inter reported that a complained had been filed in June under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which dictates that any official with knowledge of a crime must inform the justice system of it.
The report, filed by a staff representative after the attempted suicide of SPM employee Laura (a pseudonym) in April, alleges "exceptionally serious issues" concerning SPM’s working conditions.
Mocked, made invisible
Starting in late 2023, “my client was made invisible,” Laura’s lawyer Christelle Mazza explained Laura’s lawyer Christelle Mazza to France Inter. “She was no longer invited to meetings, she was removed from the organizational chart, she was nothing anymore. She was mocked, jeered at as if in schoolyard bullying, ostracized.”
Mazza added that eventually, Laura was fully isolated from her team and assigned a basement office.
After receiving no “effective response” from her superiors regarding the situation, Laura consulted several other professionals and an internal audit confirmed that while there was “severe workplace suffering,” the only option offered was for her to leave the department.
“Ultimately, the problem becomes her," Mazza told France Inter. "She ended up in a situation typical of what we usually see in public administrations: nothing happened even though all of this was well known. All these warning signs are never heeded, never prioritized, and then they explode into public view with harm to people's physical integrity.”
Laura’s situation is not an isolated case, according to France Inter.
France Inter reported that in October 2025, an an employee of the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA) attempted to take her own life in her office by cutting her throat with a box cutter.
Several of her colleagues reportedly went on strike in response, but the incident was not recognized as a workplace accident.
Less then six months later, in March 2026, a project manager in the General Secretariat for Investment took his own life at home while working from home, according to France Inter.
A few days later, an employee of the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG) threw himself under a train in Val-d'Oise, "in a context of identified workplace suffering," according to the Article 40 report, seen by France Inter.
Each time, France Inter noted, SPM said it set up “a support and assistance program for colleagues.”
'Finally realized a pattern'
“We've crossed a line. This accumulation forms a pattern, and we finally realized it," an SPM source shared with France Inter.
According to France Inter, the “pattern” follows the instability of French politics, as since the dissolution of France’s’ National Assembly in 2024, there have been four different governments.
"It's like a new army arrives every four to six months,” an SPM staff representative described to France Inter. “The chief of staff shows up wanting to implement their new organization. Teams change, offices get redone, phones get reassigned, etc. You have to bend to the new boss's new demands.”
"The first effects were felt about ten years ago, with departments being destabilized," one employee recalled to France Inter. "With entities merging, headcounts shrinking, and a growing share of contract workers, the sense of belonging to a collective weakens."
"At the same time, there's a generational shift," added another source, "with managers coming from the private sector who just want the Matignon credential on their résumé. They're often very technically competent people, but their management style is extreme. They arrive with no understanding of public service culture, lecture us, and break a lot of things before moving on.”
"We need to strengthen the political side, strengthen our departments, that requires reforms, no doubt about it, but the Prime Minister's services still can't be allowed to become a lawless zone the way they sometimes are."