Lactalis Disputes Employee Profit Bonus Claims

Credit: T. Schneider / Shutterstock.com.

Lactalis is facing accusations successful France of under-paying unit profit bonuses, allegations nan dairy elephantine disputes.

According to nan news agency AFP, much than 500 existent and erstwhile labor person revenge a lawsuit pinch nan Parquet National Financier (PNF), aliases nan National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, accusing privately-owned Lactalis of misrepresenting its yearly profits.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to scope engaged professionals crossed 36 starring media platforms.

Find retired much

Representing nan employees, lawyer Renaud Portejoie was reported by AFP yesterday (25 November) arsenic saying nan affected workers could perchance number astir 16,000, pinch losses to bonuses put successful nan “hundreds of millions” of euros.

The workers are besides reportedly demanding much transparency successful financial disclosures from Lactalis and nan Besnier family, which owns nan institution done Belgium-registered BSA International.

While Lactalis is simply a privately-owned business led by president Emmanuel Besnier, it does periodically publically disclose its financial accounts, usually connected an yearly basis, but has been criticised for not doing truthful successful nan past.

Lactalis acknowledged those disclosures erstwhile contacted by Just Food connected nan profit-sharing allegations: “Lactalis wishes to punctual that nan statutory accounts are revenge pinch nan Paris Economic Court,” a spokesperson for nan dairy awesome said successful a statement.

In its astir recent accounts disclosed successful April for 2024, Lactalis said gross exceeded €30bn ($34.1bn) for nan first time, while nett profit dropped 19% to €359m owed to an unquantified and unspecified taxation colony precocious successful nan twelvemonth pinch nan French authorities.

“The autumn successful nett income reflects nan statement reached pinch nan French taxation authorities successful precocious 2024,” nan institution said astatine nan time.

Lactalis antecedently revealed nan taxation colony magnitude arsenic €475m.

Lactalis disputes nan colony had immoderate nexus pinch worker profit bonuses, arsenic nan institution spokesperson made reference successful nan connection to nan dairy awesome and BSA International.

“The wide colony reached pinch nan taxation authorities astatine nan extremity of 2024 to adjacent a conflict complete nan mentation of nan taxation of 2 world companies which are successful nary measurement taxable to nan worker profit-sharing scheme,” nan spokesperson added.

Lactalis besides makes a cloaked reference to a group successful France known arsenic Justice for Our Bonuses, citied by nan AFP arsenic having a banner connected its website claiming profit-sharing bonuses ‘have intelligibly been unfairly reduced’ complete an unspecified number of years.

In response, Lactalis countered: “The relation down this action misleadingly claims to beryllium conducting a ‘class action’ and has neither opinionated nor immoderate instruction to act. Civil and criminal proceedings against this type of believe are presently underway.”

Contacted by Just Food connected nan worker claims astir nan profit-share reductions, a typical for nan PNF said it had only conscionable received nan “complaint” and was now studying it.

Meanwhile, Lactalis issued a connection successful December past twelvemonth successful narration to nan taxation colony shared pinch Just Food coming (26 November) which revolved astir its “international financing operations”.

Those operations were group up successful 2006 but “closed respective years ago” and were intended to foster world description .

The connection added: “The group afloat cooperated pinch nan French management passim nan procedure, which was initiated successful 2019.

“At nan extremity of nan procedure, a disagreement remained. Lactalis decided to travel nan way of an wide colony pinch nan management and to proceed pinch nan costs of 475 cardinal euros to put a definite extremity to nan power procedures…..Lactalis firmly reaffirms that it had nary unlawful intention.”

It emerged early successful 2024 that Lactalis was under investigation for imaginable taxation fraud.

A PNF spokesperson told Just Food astatine nan time: “In 2018, I tin corroborate that nan PNF opened an investigation into nan charges of laundering aggravated taxation fraud connected suspicions of a simplification successful its taxable profit by nan Lactalis Group.

“In 2019, nan PNF received a study from nan Confédération paysanne and successful 2022 mandatory taxation denunciations from nan taxation authorities, which led to nan hold of nan investigation to cases of aggravated taxation fraud.”

PNF said past nan “amount of duties apt to person been evaded complete nan play 2009-2020 is estimated astatine this shape astatine respective 100 cardinal euros”.