Back in late 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled against Ryanair in its battle to consider its cabin crew as Irish under Irish law in a case of aircrew against Ryanair and its temporary staff agency Crewlink Ireland Limited.
The Irish airline had designated Irish courts having jurisdiction over thousands of pilots and cabin crew and had deprived them of access to legal help at the place where they actually work.
The EU Court in its judgment points out first of all that, as regards disputes related to employment contracts, the European Union rules concerning jurisdiction are aimed at protecting the weaker party.
Those rules enable an employee to sue his employer before the courts which he regards as closest to his interests, by giving him the option of bringing proceedings before the courts of the Member State in which the employer is domiciled or the courts of the place in which the employee habitually carries out his work.
“There are many airlines out there that make use of highly questionable employment set-ups and doubtful contractual jurisdiction clauses,” European Pilots
