French Court Rules in Favor of Exploited Moroccan Farm Workers, Orders Compensation

Laboral Terra will have to pay several thousand euros to five former Moroccan agricultural workers. According to the judgment of the labor court in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), Laboral Terra -now in judicial liquidation- was convicted for "fraudulent deductions from wages, holiday pay never paid," wages calculated without respecting the legal minimum, and lack of medical check-up.

"This corroborates what the workers were saying, that their rights were not respected," said Yann Prevost, lawyer for two of the workers, Yasmina Tellal and Karima (who preferred not to have her last name published). During the June 16 hearing, the latter had estimated that "perhaps an animal was treated better than" the Moroccan agricultural workers posted in France until 2016. She was referring to her working conditions on French farms or agricultural trading companies.

While the labor court judge rejected a "fraud" in the posting contract itself, he stressed that "the employer fails to provide proof that he paid the employee based on the hours worked." He jointly condemned several French companies, users of these posted workers in Provence, for these abuses in the event of default by the Spanish company.