Easyjet has been under investigation here in France since 2006
when an inspection of their operations at Paris Orly airport
showed they'd failed to register
170 employees to the French authorities.
The budget airline is accused of breaking strict labour laws
and is now being pursued by the state prosecutor
for millions of euros in unpaid social security
and health insurance contributions.
The budget airline insists
that its staff were hired under British contracts
and therefore were not subject to French rules.
Orly airport, it claims,
was merely a rest area for its workers
and it was the planes themselves,
and not France that served as their workplaces.
The French authorities point out however
that most of the Easyjet staff lived
and paid their taxes in France
and many were working solely on internal flights between Paris and Nice.