Ryanair welcomes EU court win over ‘home base’ jurisdiction dispute

Handing down judgment in the Mons case this morning, the European Court of Justice rejected the CTC union’s argument that jurisdiction should be determined by the place crew start and end their work day.

The ECJ has ruled that all current factors such as where the worker gets their instructions, where goods/passengers are loaded/unloaded, where the work tools are stored, where the work is organised/performed and where the worker returns to at the end of their duty should continue to be considered in conjunction with the home base as part of an overall assessment in determining jurisdiction.

The airline said the decision does not change the status quo of Irish contracts of employment for Ryanair crew based across Europe. Ryanair will continue to employ its crew on Irish contracts of employment, and the decision only updates the criteria for assessing the jurisdiction of national courts to hear legal cases locally and does not alter the law applicable to the contract, which is determined by the Rome I regulation (593/2008).

Ryanair’s chief people officer Eddie Wilson said: “We welcome this Mons case ruling which upholds the existing EU rules on the jurisdiction of Member States national courts, and accepts Ryanair’s position that just one criteria (i.e. basing) cannot unilaterally determine jurisdiction.

“Maintaining broad assessment criteria ensures that the most appropriate jurisdiction should apply in cases involving international transport workers rather than a sole criterion approach, which would narrow the assessment and restrict movement and flexibility with a myriad of regulations and different crews throughout Europe.

“We do not believe this Mons ruling will in any way alter our Irish contracts of employment or the union rights which all of our people enjoy under the protection of the Irish Constitution.”