Ryanair to Pay Over 8 Million in Damages
Court of Appeal in Aix-en-Provence confirmed damages yesterday
The airline Ryanair have been instructed by court in Aix to pay some 8.1 million euros in damages for unpaid social charges, to professional unions and to four former pilots who had made claims against the airline.
It has been announced that the URSSAF (the Organisation for the Payment of Social Security & family Benefit Contributions) had been allocate €4.5 million for unpaid contributions, the pension fund for professional aircrew was awarded €3 million, and Pole Emploi (job centre) €493,045 euros. The pilot unions have been given €30,000, and each pilot that claimed gets €12,000 in damages. In total, 127 employees targeted Ryanair, when the company claimed that its employees fall within the Irish labour laws whilst they were working at the Marseille-Provence airport.
Claire Hocquet, counsel for ALPA (the Union of Airline Pilots France) said, "we managed to obtain a conviction on appeal from Ryanair for undeclared work. The company can not continue to explain that it complies with French law."
"This confirmation is important. It shows that the Ryanair business model is fraudulent," insisted Rachid Brihi counsel for 'l'Union des navigants de l'aviation civile', "The court does not prevent Ryanair from working in France but they told Ryanair: you need to establish your company in France and report your employees to the French Commercial Register ".
A spokesperson for the airline said: “Ryanair will appeal this ruling to the French Supreme Court on the basis that European employment law clearly allows mobile workers on Irish registered aircraft to pay their taxes and social taxes in Ireland. We will also be seeking a referral to the European Court of Justice to prevent these attempts by the French authorities to claim social taxes that have already been paid in full to Ireland.”
Let's hope that this fine will not mean that prices for the budget Irish airline will increase to cover the payment!
