Moroccan Bank Fined €4.2 Million for Pension Violations in France

According to a statement from the employee advocacy association, the BCP did not comply with the social security agreement between Morocco and France, which stipulates that after three consecutive years of work, seconded employees are subject to the legislation in force at their place of work.

The association’s lawyer, Mokhtar Ferdaoussi, argued that the employees worked from 1972 to 2007 in total illegality. "Today, most of them receive a very small pension of between 800 and 900 euros. One of them has worked since 1983 and was fired in 2010 for refusing to return to Morocco. The bank put pressure on those who filed a complaint by offering them envelopes of 20,000 to 60,000 euros in exchange for their waiver of legal action," added the counsel for the former BCP employees.

In 2007, the Banque de France required the BCP to comply with French regulations, forcing it to leave the consulates to develop Banque Chaabi du Maroc, governed by French law, the lawyer said. According to him, the judgment dates back to September 17, 2019 and the bank appealed the decision on October 4, 2019, invoking the "diplomatic immunity" of its former employees and the Vienna Convention in its defense.