“Thales was looking for reasons to justify a dismissal”: how the arms giant attacked a whistleblower

The affair was striking due to the scale of the institutions involved: the French arms and aeronautics giant Thales on one side, and the United Nations (UN) on the other. The specialist media outlet La Lettre , supported by revelations from Mediapart , revealed at the end of 2021 that the company had infiltrated the highest echelons of world diplomacy. At the center of this scandal: Philippe Schifferling.
Officially dispatched by France to the UN office in New York, the former military officer was secretly paid by Thales. Working in the department responsible for information technology, telecommunications, and security for UN peacekeeping missions (ICTD), Philippe Schifferling transmitted weekly information on contracts being developed and modified calls for tenders in favor of Thales.
The fraud was denounced by a company executive in 2019, leading to an internal investigation. The whistleblower subsequently alerted the French Anti-Corruption Agency, which requested that an investigation be opened by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office in 2021.
The reasons given at the time were suspicions of "corruption" and "influence peddling" . Nearly five years later, the Letter reveals that this whistleblower was dismissed on false grounds in order to silence her.
Philippe Schifferling led a double life for almost a year, from September 2016 to September 2017. He notably oversaw the peacekeeping mission in Mali . "To protect the Blue Helmets, the ICTD purchased a secure communications network and surveillance equipment (cameras, enemy fire detectors) from Thales for the Gao and Kidal camps, strongholds of the jihadists in the north of the country," Mediapart reported at the time .
Faced with this double label, the whistleblower tried to alert her superiors on several occasions. The latter even "formally contacted the group's ethics committee , first in March 2019, then again in October of the same year," summarizes the specialized media.
She was finally dismissed in March 2020. Thales had then justified its decision by the employee's "relational and managerial difficulties." However, according to documents that had previously remained confidential and were consulted by the Letter , the whistleblower's fate "was sealed even before the outcome of the internal investigation."
La Lettre has had access to invoices from the consulting firm Gide Loyrette Nouel, which was tasked with advising Thales on employment law matters. These invoices indicate that the arms giant "had a lawyer working on the whistleblower's dismissal from February 17, 2020." That was three days before the ethics committee issued its findings in the case.
"Before the court ruled, a Gide lawyer had therefore carried out a service entitled "Research on the disagreement, motivation for the dismissal letter and the whistleblower" , announces the investigative media. The title of the invoice thus indicates that Thales was looking for reasons to justify a dismissal."
Specifically, Thales management allegedly ordered the ejection of the whistleblower, who had become too embarrassing. Her anonymity—required in internal investigations—was not respected, while the law firm increased its contacts with Gaspard de Tournemire, a member of Thales's ethics committee, the department responsible for overseeing the alert in question.
Gaspard de Tournemire, also the group's legal director of human resources, organized a telephone meeting on February 27 with a lawyer from Gide Loyrette Nouel. "However, the alert procedure should normally be watertight with any social procedure, especially since it only concerned a subsidiary," explains the Letter.
As proof that the consultancy firm was aware of the employee's special status, its investigators allegedly sought the protection enjoyed by whistleblowers.
"In total, 23 hours were billed to draft the employee's dismissal letter. At Thales, the matter was handled directly by the company's headquarters, not by the subsidiary concerned , " the Letter continues. "The letter was prepared even before the invitation to the pre-dismissal interview was sent on March 13. This interview took place on May 20, and the dismissal letter was sent on May 27."
Questioned by the Letter , Thales states that the alert launched by their former employee "was handled in strict compliance with the group's internal rules applicable in this regard and the rules for the protection of whistleblowers" .
Following her dismissal , the whistleblower was able to count on the support of the CGT and UNSA unions, as well as the Maison des lancers d'alerte (House of Whistleblowers). Following an initial challenge, the employee's claim was dismissed at first instance and on appeal.
The Versailles Court of Appeal finally granted her whistleblower status in September 2021, however, the Versailles Court of Appeal granted her whistleblower status.
The judgment having been overturned in February 2023, the Versailles Court of Appeal then ruled, in December 2023, that "the elements present" made it possible to establish that the employee's behavior "posed real difficulties, giving rise to conflict situations, objective elements unrelated to the alert" .
A court decision confirmed on July 2, 2025 by the Court of Cassation, which considered that it was this time sufficiently motivated. This is why Thales considers that "the absence of a link between the alert and the dismissal , which had been noted by both the industrial tribunal and the court of appeal" , is today "definitively established" .
However, these decisions only concern the interim relief proceedings, while the dismissal will still have to be judged on the merits. The new elements revealed by the Letter could therefore weigh in the balance.
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