Republished February 01, 2018 - 1:55 AM
Original Publication Date February 01, 2018 - 12:56 AM
PARIS - France's national rail operator has been convicted of discrimination against more than 800 Moroccan employees throughout their career.
The SNCF had been sentenced to pay more than 170 million euros ($210 million at current exchange rates) in compensation back in 2015 after a court specializing in labour disputes ruled that 832 "chibanis" — which translates as "white hair" — were offered less generous contracts than French colleagues when they were hired in the 1970's.
SNCF appealed the rulings but a Paris court upheld the decision, the operator said in a statement late Wednesday. According to the ruling, the chibanis did the same work as their French colleagues and ruled that the discrimination was blatant.
The court said "SNCF did not demonstrate that this difference in treatment was justified by objective reasons."
SNCF was sentenced to pay 290,000 euros ($361,000) to each employee in compensation. The court did not release the details of each case, and no aggregate amount was provided.
The Moroccan workers were not offered the rail workers' status including numerous advantages and benefits. SNCF said for its defence that employees must have French citizenship to be hired as rail workers or, since 1991, to be nationals from a European Union country.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018