Ryanair fined for paying workers below the minimum wage

RYANAIR has been fined by the Spanish authorities for paying cabin crew below the minimum wage.

Trades union USO filed a complaint against the airline in 2021 for failing to apply the Minimum Interprofessional Salary (SMI, in Spanish) for cabin crew, which has now led the Labour Inspection to launch legal proceedings for a severe offence against workers’ rights.

According to the authorities, the contracts under dispute do not specify whether they are full or part-time. As a result, Labour Inspection considers them to be full-time, and therefore subject to SMI requirements.

As the salary paid to the employees at the time of the complaint was below the SMI, the wage was considered illegal.

The fine for this type of offence ranges from €751 to €7,500.

This new development comes shortly after the Labour Inspection found Ryanair guilty of two counts of failing to protect Madrid airport employees from the heat last summer, forcing them to work in temperatures of more than 47 ºC without protection according to trades union Comisiones Obreras, despite a previous warning from the authorities.

Ryanair sources contacted by Eldiario.es deny having received any fines or official notifications in this regard.

The company also faced penalties in November 2022 due to infringing workers’ right to strike during the industrial action called by USO due to Ryanair’s refusal to negotiate the collective wages agreement with the union.

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