This manager of a transport company in Orne sentenced for not having declared his employees

The Argentan court (Orne) pronounced his decision this Tuesday January 7, 2025 by condemning a transport company manager domiciled in Argentan to a fine of €4,000, including €2,000 suspended, and a banned from running a business for five years. This verdict follows acts of concealed work, a serious offense which dates back to 2022.

In an irregular situation, he did not have authorization to work

The case begins on August 23, 2022in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Some), when gendarmes check a truck of a moving company. On board, the driver introduces himself as the brother of the company managerspecifying that he is not the usual driver and that he just doing his brother a favor for this occasion, without remuneration, specifying that it is a “helping hand”. On the other hand, another passenger, an employee of the company, is in irregular situation on French territory and therefore had no not allowed to work.

The investigations carried out by the authorities highlight a worrying situation. It turns out that the manager, whose company is based in Argentan, used the hidden work for almost a year, between July 2021 and August 2022by employing several workers without declaring them. Among these employees, one was in an irregular situation. This observation is considered all the more serious by the president of the court, who underlines the confusion surrounding these practices.

The manager, aged 36 and now living in Rânes, defended himself in court by claiming that he did not know the illegal passenger and that he had simply called on his brother to carry out an unscheduled trip. According to him, the passenger in question was just a “helping hand”. However, an employee of the BUT companywho had requested the company's services, testified by declaring that he had already seen these men in his premises, thus contradicting the manager's version.

The prosecutor: “Unfair competition”

The public prosecutor challenges the manager's defense scenario that these men were only doing volunteer work.

The use of hidden work exempts you from paying charges, which creates unfair competition. »

All the investigations established that the facts are perfectly characterized. In repression, he requested a criminal fine of €4,000 in addition to a ban on managing a company for five years.

For his part, the defense lawyer tries to exonerate the manager by highlighting the statements of the illegal employee, who claims not to know the manager and who allegedly acted on his own initiative. The latter thus pleads for relaxation.

Finally, the court acquitted the manager regarding the employment of a foreign worker without authorization, but sentenced him for concealed work to a fine of €4,000, of which €2,000 was suspended, in addition to a ban on managing any company. for a period of five years.

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