A French court has ordered low-cost carrier Ryanair to pay €10 million in damages plus fines for breaching French labour laws at its operation in Marignane, near the southern port city of Marseille.
The airline has said it plans to appeal.
Ryanair faced multiple charges, including registering workers employed in France as Irish employees, preventing workplace councils from functioning and preventing staff from having free access to unions.
The case centres around a facility operated by the company at Marignane, where 127 Ryanair employees were based. The airline neglected to apply French labour laws to its Marignane-based staff or complete tax declarations for them.
Ryanair argued that Irish law applied to the employees, as it did not have a permanent base in the area and its staff took their orders from company headquarters in Dublin.
A lawyer for the SNPL pilots' union, Roland Rappaport, urged the court to "make an example" of Ryanair in its ruling.
"We are dealing with a company whose only goal is to counter the law in defiance of the interests of workers," the prosecution said.
France 24
Val says Why do none of us have sympathy with this pushy Irishman Michael O' Leary and the business he runs. Airbus has just won an award for the most appealing business in France. One cannot imagine Ryanair winning an award like this in any country they work in.
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