A judge in Lleida has ordered the chicken slaughterhouse Avícola de Lleida, also known as Avidel, to pay €4 million in social security contributions for 420 people classed by the court as fake co-operative workers.
The ruling, from Social Court number 1 of Lleida, found that Avidel and the co-operative Servicarne committed fraud of law and illegal assignment of workers between 2014 and 2018. The court said the employment relationship was in fact labour-based.
The General Treasury of Social Security (TGSS) had claimed about €5.5 million in total, with €4 million attributed to Avidel. The sentence, seen by SEGRE, is not final and can be appealed to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.
During the trial, the TGSS argued that Avidel was the real employer and that the workers were working for others. Lawyers representing 98 of the affected workers supported that view. Avidel and Servicarne denied wrongdoing and said the arrangement was a form of productive decentralisation, not an employment relationship.
The judge described Servicarne as a fictitious and purely apparent associated work co-operative, lacking organisational infrastructure. The court also said Avidel made the key decisions on production, schedules, work pace, protective equipment, clothing and tools, and that the company provided the material infrastructure.
Avícola de Lleida says it will appeal the sentence to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. The company says the facts in the ruling relate only to 2014 to 2018, and that since 2019 all workers at the firm have been integrated into the General Social Security Regime. For more Catalonia business and court coverage, see our news page.
