Euro Disney, the company that runs Disneyland Paris, and two former police officers have been taken to court for allegedly spying on candidates who applied for jobs at the theme park.
It is alleged the company secretly paid the ex-officers about €36,000 a year to illegally access police file information on job applicants, including their court history, legal cases and convictions.The pair asked their contacts still in the force to consult police and justice system files.
They then passed the information to the Euro Disney human resources department, so the company could vet future staff at what is the most popular tourist destination in Europe.
The illegal checks are alleged to have been carried out between 1999 and 2004. Information on between 2,500 and 3,000 people was reportedly accessed.
A court in Meaux, east of Paris, heard that in 2004, the new management of Euro Disney alerted the justice system itself, filing a legal case to denounce the checks and put a stop to them.
The company said the practice had been about ensuring the security of around 10 million people who visited the site each year. But it added that despite any "good intentions" it was a "mistake" to operate in this way.
A lawyer for the trade union plaintiffs in the case told media it amounted to "the use of a spying system on a large scale".
The park, east of Paris, celebrated its 20th birthday last year.
It is the biggest employer in the area, with around 12,500 staff. The case, which opened on Wednesday, continues.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Euro Disney 'spied on job candidates'
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