Ryanair has been ordered to pay fines and damages totalling €8 million by a French court for violating the country’s labour laws. The charges included registering workers employed in France as Irish employees, preventing workplace councils from functioning, and preventing access to unions. Ryanair said it “intends to appeal all the way to the European Courts”. 
In a statement, the airline said: “Ryanair believes there is a clear contradiction between current EU employment regulations under which these Irish workers paid their taxes and social taxes in Ireland, and the 2006 French decree, which seeks to require airline crews operating in Ireland to pay social taxes and pension contributions in France, despite the fact that they have already paid them in Ireland.
“Ryanair believes this contradiction can ultimately only be resolved by the European Courts upholding EU regulations on the employment of mobile transport workers, and Ryanair intends to pursue this appeal all the way to the European Courts. Should Ryanair be ultimately forced to pay these social taxes and pension contributions in France, then the vast majority of these contributions will be reclaimable from the Irish Government.”
The case centred around a facility operated by Ryanair at Marignane, near the southern French cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence.
Meanwhile, easyJet was ordered to pay €1.2 million in damages to unions representing crew for hiring 170 employees under British contracts at a Paris airport in 2010.
