After ten years of procedures, the Court of Cassation rejected on October 17 the appeal filed by Ryanair against the judgment rendered by the Paris Court of Appeal in a case of hidden work between 2007 and 2010 in Marseille, supported by the pension fund for professional civil aeronautics flight personnel (CRPN). In quick succession, a second affair, that of subsidies has Angoulemeconcluded with a conviction of Ryanair…
In the trial concerning Marseille airport, on March 10 and 11, 2022, the Irish cheap flight specialist once again presented its arguments before the Court of Appeal against the accusations of “concealed work due to lack of declaration prior to hiring, obstacles to staff representative institutions, illegal loan of labor”. These frauds led to Ryanair being condemned in 2014 for non-compliance with the French labor code by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, with a fine of 200,000 euros for concealed work and 8.1 million euros damages to be paid to the civil parties (URSAAF, Pension Fund for professional civil aeronautics aircrew, Pôle Emploi, professional unions and four former pilots). The Irish firm was accused of having employed 127 employees in Marseille between 2007 and 2010, without paying social security contributions in France. His order to pay 3 million euros in damages to the CRPN but also 4.5 million to URSSAF and 490,000 euros to Job Center is therefore definitely confirmed.
Prosecuted for having employed 127 employees under Irish employment contracts, without therefore contributing to social organizations or declaring themselves to the French tax authorities, and illegal loan of labor (PNCs employed by third-party Irish companies), Ryanair has always highlighted THE European law (Irish company and Irish planes, therefore Irish employment contract). But due to European case law, the Court of Cassation overturned the judgment in 2018, referring the case to the Paris Court of Appeal – whose work was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “No airline can legitimately carry out its activity from France without respecting the rules and therefore affiliating all aircrew to our retirement institution”commented Michel Janot, President of the CRPN Board of Directors. “This victory, after a long legal and media battle, obtained by the CRPN, confirms our desire and our ability to fight against all forms of fraud. The CRPN will never back down in the fight against fraud, all aircrew based in France come under our institution. »
Angoulême Airport
This week, a second conflict with the Irish low cost company, in court for 13 years, ended in victory for the joint union which manages Angoulême airport. At the time, helpers marketing perceived had been judged abusive given that Ryanair had terminated its contract by interrupting the line Angoulême – London. The Council of State has therefore definitively ruled in favor of Charente. “We will therefore never have to pay €500,000 to Ryanair”, commented Franck Velten, the director of Angoulême-Cognac airport. This legal saga, however, got off to a bad start in 2012, when the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), specializing in the resolution of international conflicts, ordered the Syndicat Mixte des Aéroports de Charente (SMAC) to pay a little more than 400,000 euros to Ryanair. But in 2014, the European Commission ordered Ryanair to pay 1 million euros to Charente, considering that the aid received at the time was illegal. Smac had a plane “seized” in 2018 on the tarmac of the airport Bordeaux-Mérignac to obtain payment of a debt of €525,000, requested by the court. After detours before several French courts depending on the appeals, the Bordeaux Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Smac. But Ryanair appealed, leading to a new examination of the case before the Council of State which has just, in its judgment of October 17, put an end to this procedure.
