«My work was never recognized under my real name», says Mohamed Amghar with a hint of sadness in Le Parisien. For two decades, this French-Moroccan man was forced to go by the name «Antoine» in his workplace. Now, justice has ruled in his favor: his former employer, Intergraph France, has been found guilty of discrimination, moral harassment, and invasion of privacy. The case dates back to 1997. Hired as a sales representative, Mohamed was asked to change his first name from the very beginning. «The person who would become my future manager asked me not to be called Mohamed anymore», he recalls, describing the shame and anger he felt that day. The reason? His name supposedly «didn't go over well» with clients. «I guess they thought Mohamed couldn't do prospecting… It's racism, it's discrimination». Caught in what he now calls a «double identity», he became «Antoine» at work—without ever asking for it. He racked up sales achievements and internal recognition, but always under a name that wasn't his own. «The wound is still there. Twenty years is a long time», he says. When he left the company in 2017, Mohamed decided to take legal action. Though initially dismissed by the labor court, he eventually won his case on appeal in 2025. The court recognized that the name change was not his choice and noted the employer's failure to justify it. Intergraph France was ordered to pay around €30,000 in damages. «That's nothing to them», Mohamed responds. The company, a subsidiary of Swedish tech group Hexagon AB, declined to comment on the ruling.
