The Labour Court dismissed an appeal by three Aer Lingus employees over the airline’s English-at-work policy, which the Court found indirectly discriminatory against Polish workers but objectively justified. The determination was signed on 8 May 2017.
Lukasz Kacmarek, Marcin Turczyk and Rafal Wilczkiew argued that staff should be allowed to speak Polish about non-work matters when working alongside fellow Polish speakers. Aer Lingus said a common language supported food safety, supervision and integration across its multilingual workforce.
The Court found that requiring English at all times went beyond what supervisors needed to check that food-preparation instructions were understood. It nevertheless considered a common workplace language reasonable to promote integration, since staff did not choose their colleagues. The policy did not apply during official breaks, and Aer Lingus used education rather than discipline to enforce it. The Court held the policy objectively justified and dismissed the appeal.