View source for Tefal

{{Short description|French cookware and appliance company}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Tefal
| logo             = Tefal logo.svg
| logo_size        = 220px
| type             = [[Subsidiary]]
| industry         = Consumer products
| genre            =
| fate             =
| predecessor      =
| successor        =
| foundation       = 1956<ref name="Funderburg2000" />
| founder          = [[Marc Grégoire]]<ref name="Funderburg2000" />
| defunct          =
| location         =
| location_city    = [[Rumilly, Haute-Savoie]]<ref name="DnB">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.tefal.1f3fbc037e0a6811b8d6fbf9bac798f9.html|title=TEFAL|access-date=2021-08-01|website=[[Dun & Bradstreet]]}}</ref>
| locations        =
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| products         =
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| parent           = [[Groupe SEB]]
| divisions        =
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| footnotes        =
| location_country = France
| homepage         = {{url|http://tefal.com}}
| market cap       =
}}'''Tefal S.A.S.''' (a [[portmanteau]] of [[Teflon|'''TEF'''lon]] and [[Aluminium|'''AL'''uminium]].<ref name="Masson2010" />) is a French cookware and small appliance manufacturer, owned by [[Groupe SEB]] (a global manufacturer of [[cookware]]) since 1968.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.groupeseb.com/en/history-of-groupe-SEB|title=History of Groupe SEB|access-date=2021-08-01|website=Groupe SEB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307000241/https://www.groupeseb.com/en/history-of-groupe-SEB|archive-date=2021-03-07|url-status=live|language=en|quote=1968 Acquisition of Tefal and ...}}</ref> The company is known for creating the non-stick cookware category<ref name="Masson2010">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eIxAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT160|title=Strategic Management of Innovation and Design|last1=Masson|first1=Pascal Le|last2=Weil|first2=Benoît|last3=Hatchuel|first3=Armand|date=2010-09-09|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139915595|language=en|pages=160–162}}</ref> and for offering frying equipment with a low requirement of fat or oils.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lovefood.com/journal/features/27173/kitchen-test-tefal-vs-breville-low-fat-fryers|title=Kitchen test: Tefal vs Breville low-fat fryers|website=www.lovefood.com}}</ref>
In the United States, '''Tefal''' is marketed as '''T-fal'''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dam.groupeseb.com/m/0dbfc16fde863393/original/Text-SDA-TEF_TFL-int.pdf|title=TEFAL/T-FAL International limited guarantee|date=2021-07-01|access-date=2021-08-01|website=Tefal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801152351/https://www.tefal.com/medias/Text-SDA-TEF-TFL-int.pdf?context=bWFzdGVyfENTUyBURUZBTCB3YXJyYW50eSBQREZ8MTA4MDExNHxhcHBsaWNhdGlvbi9wZGZ8Q1NTIHdhcnJhbnR5IFBERi9oMmEvaDNkLzEzNzk4OTI3MTM4ODQ2LnBkZnxhZjA5OTFkY2JhM2RhMTA5MDdjYWIxNmZjNTE3NGNiYjAwZDhjMWE0MTk5NjRjZjNmMDNiMGNkZTY0YzEwMDE4|archive-date=2021-08-01|url-status=live|page=2|language=en|quote=TEFAL household appliances appear under the T-FAL brand in some territories like America and Japan.}} (PDF file under the [https://www.tefal.com/consumer-services/warranty-and-repairs/warranty warranty web page])</ref> This is to comply with [[DuPont]]'s objection that the name "Tefal" was too close to DuPont's trademark "Teflon".<ref name="Funderburg2000">{{Cite journal|title=Making Teflon Stick|journal=[[American Heritage of Invention & Technology|American Heritage's Invention & Technology]]|url=https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/making-teflon-stick-1|last=Funderburg|first=Anne Cooper|volume=16|via=inventionandtech.com|issue=1|year=2000|orig-year=2000|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226064149/https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/making-teflon-stick-1|archive-date=2021-02-26|url-status=live}}</ref> The T-fal brand is also used in Canada<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.t-fal.ca/|title=T-fal Canada homepage|access-date=2021-08-01|website=T-fal Canada}}</ref> and Japan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.t-fal.co.jp/|title=T-fal homepage|access-date=2021-08-01|website=Groupe SEB Japan}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://homecookworld.com/tefal-questions-answered/ |title=Your Tefal (T-fal) Questions, Answered |website=www.homecookworld.com |date=9 July 2021 |access-date=2021-07-10}}</ref>
Besides cookware and cooking appliances, the '''Tefal''' brand is also applied to home appliances such as steam irons<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/01/tefal-launches-small-steam-generator-irons-391754/|title=Tefal launches small steam generator irons|date=2015-01-15|access-date=2021-08-01|website=[[Which?]]}}</ref> and vacuum cleaners.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/01/can-tefal-vacuum-cleaners-rival-dyson-460104/|title=Can Tefal vacuum cleaners rival Dyson?|date=2017-01-20|access-date=2021-08-01|website=[[Which?]]}}</ref>
== Pollution scandal ==
In August 2022, the [[:fr:Agence_régionale_de_santé|ARS]] (Regional Health Agency) of [[Haute-Savoie]] sampled drinking water in [[Rumilly, Haute-Savoie|Rumilly]], and discovered that the level of PFOA, a compound whose use has been banned since 2020, was 1.5 times higher than the maximum health value.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Présence de composés perfluorés (PFAS) dans l’eau potable sur la commune de Rumilly |url=https://www.mairie-rumilly74.fr/actualite/presence-de-composes-perfluores-pfas-dans-leau-potable-sur-la-commune-de-rumilly/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=Ville de Rumilly |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
In February 2023, the newspaper [[Le Monde]] published an article on [[Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances|PFAS]] contamination at certain French sites, pointing the finger at the Rumilly production site and highlighting the massive contamination of groundwater in the area. Former employees accused the [[Groupe SEB|Seb group]] of "dumping its PTFE sludge by truck in what used to be a landfill site", which the group denied.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-24 |title=En Haute-Savoie, les nappes phréatiques de Rumilly contaminées au PFOA |url=https://www.20minutes.fr/planete/4025320-20230224-haute-savoie-nappes-phreatiques-rumilly-elles-contaminees-tefal |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=www.20minutes.fr |language=fr}}</ref>
A month later, the prefecture and ARS of Haute-Savoie issued a statement advising people "not to eat fish caught in the Rumilly area".
== Influence peddling case ==
In 2013, a case of influence peddling broke out in [[Annecy]], where Tefal management wanted to modify the employment contracts of certain employees, but a workers' union refused. The tug-of-war lasted several weeks, until the labor inspectorate intervened. The labor inspector in charge of the case discovered an irregularity in the 35-hour agreement signed thirteen years earlier and asked for it to be renegotiated, but management refused.
Philip Paillard of the Union des Industries et Métiers de la Métallurgie and Human Resources Director Dan Abergel decide to put pressure on the labor inspector to get her transferred.
Tefal management also contacted the intelligence services.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-14 |title=A l’inspection du travail, la casserole Tefal - Libération |url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/display2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.liberation.fr%2Feconomie%2F2014%2F10%2F14%2Fa-l-inspection-du-travail-la-casserole-tefal_1121593 |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=archive.wikiwix.com |language=fr}}</ref>
The inspector soon received pressure and threats from her superiors. The press revealed that the company had agreed to recruit a close associate of Philippe Dumont, the departmental director of labor, in exchange for putting pressure on the labor inspector on behalf of the company.
Tefal decided to lodge a complaint against the labor inspector for breach of professional secrecy and handling stolen goods. The Annecy public prosecutor, Eric Maillaud, a close friend of Philippe Dumont, decides to follow up the complaint, not against the company or the inspectorate director, but against the labor inspector and the whistleblower to "clean up" the labor inspectorate. On June 5, 2015, hundreds of people demonstrated outside the court in support of the labor inspector.
The trial is adjourned until October 16. At the same time, trade unions from the Ministry of Labor, local interprofessional unions and Tefal's CGT and FO sections call for a rally in front of the court.
In January 2016, labor inspector Laura Pfeiffer was awarded the "Ethics Prize" by the [[:fr:Anticor|Anticor association]] for her work in this case. Nevertheless, in November 2016, she was convicted on appeal for breach of professional secrecy and concealment of confidential documents. In May 2017, journalist Inès Léraud presented a report on the case on the TV program [[:fr:Les_Pieds_sur_terre_(émission_de_radio)|Les Pieds sur terre]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=L'inspectrice du travail de Tefal : épisode • 5/14 du podcast Celles et ceux qui changent le monde |url=https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/les-pieds-sur-terre/l-inspectrice-du-travail-de-tefal-6621800 |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=France Culture |language=fr}}</ref>
In October 2018, the [[Court of Cassation (France)|Cour de cassation]] overturned the sentence and requested that the case be retried in light of the article of the Sapin II law providing protection for whistleblowers. The case was retried before the same [[Lyon]] court in September 2019, with judgment reserved until October 24 of the same year.
On October 24, 2019, the Lyon Court of Appeal, ruling on a referral, nonetheless confirmed Laura Pfeiffer's conviction for "concealment of breach of secrecy of correspondence and breach of professional secrecy", with a €3,500 fine and €1,000 in damages in favor of the civil parties. The Court did not uphold the benefits of the Sapin II Act and the resulting criminal irresponsibility, as the necessary criteria were not met in this case, in particular compliance with a "graduated procedure", disinterestedness, and "taking particular precautions before making public the subject of the alert": "By disregarding all the rules of investigation and professional practices applicable to all labor inspectors, and by knowingly concealing electronic correspondence, Laura Pfeiffer behaved in a manner that was not only hasty but also totally inappropriate".
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Home appliance brands}}
[[Category:Manufacturing companies of France]]
[[Category:Kitchenware brands]]
[[Category:Cooking appliance brands]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1956]]
[[Category:French brands]]
[[Category:Companies based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes]]
[[Category:French companies established in 1956]]