Spanish Court Kicks Out Ryanair Unfair dismissal Claim

 

A former Ryanair employee who was sacked for eating an in-flight sandwich without paying for it or asking permission has been told he cannot contest the dismissal in the Spanish courts.

The air steward, named by Spanish media as Juan Francisco MM, lost his job after he ate a sandwich from the on-board menu of a Ryanair aircraft during a flight in December 2010. According to the airline's regulations, staff must ask a superior and pay before consuming food prepared for customers.

A Ryanair ham-and-cheese sandwich costs €5.50, according to the airline's in-flight magazine.

The dismissed steward, who is from Spain and has a home in Madrid, was working as a cabin assistant based in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, when he was dismissed. He had been earning €20,700 before tax on a temporary contract.

He brought a claim of unfair dismissal against Ryanair and Dublin-based contractor Workforce International, which provides the airline with staff.

The former steward took the case before the Spanish justice system, on the grounds of his nationality and the fact Ryanair operates in Spain and has offices in Madrid's Barajas airport. A Madrid provincial court initially accepted the case. However, the Spanish Supreme Court has now ruled the plaintiff must instead take it to Ireland, where the airline's main headquarters are and under who labour laws he was hired, or to Norway.

"The resolution does not refer to whether or not the firing was correct or not," said the Supreme Court in a statement, "but rather to whether the Spanish courts have the jurisdiction to handle a claim of unfair dismissal by a worker whose home is in Spain and whose regular residence is in Oslo, and when the defendant's employers are based in another EU country [Ireland]."