France: Terra Fecundis, the trial of a giant posted work fraud

A banner installed in front of the Marseille commercial court, at the opening of the Terra Fecundis trial, on May 17, 2021. © AFP / Nicolas Tucat

Text by: Anne Verdaguer Follow

4 min

The trial has been postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

In Marseille, the trial of Terra Fecundis, a Spanish temping company that sends thousands of workers to French farms every year, opens from Monday, May 17.

This is one of the biggest cases of posted work fraud ever tried in France.

It is therefore particularly expected and followed.

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It took an investigation of more than 10 years to shed light on this immense social security fraud and the relations between farms in the south of France and the Spanish temping company Terra Fecundis. Two of its subsidiaries, as well as six of its managers in France are in the box of the accused from this Monday, May 17. The charges are those of posted work fraud, but also labor haggling.

The company would have organized a vast scam and would have managed to subtract 112 million euros from social security for the only period from 2012 to 2015, that retained by the criminal proceedings, thanks to a perfectly oiled system since the company remained affiliated to the Spanish social security bodies.

In short, it did not pay Urssaf in France, but it is in France that it achieved 80% of its turnover, so it is akin to hidden work and a form of social dumping.

As for the "bargaining" of labor: justice suspects the non-payment of certain hours worked, the non-increase of overtime, the exceeding of working time or the absence of medical follow-up.

A worker died of dehydration

The case really began in 2011 after the death of a 32-year-old Ecuadorian from dehydration while collecting melons on a farm in the town of Eyragues, in the Bouches-du-Rhône.

After this human tragedy, justice began to take an interest in the fate of the seasonal agricultural workers of Terra Fecundis in France.

The general agrifood trade union CFDT of Bouches-du-Rhône, which is a civil party in this lawsuit, talks about the establishment of a system of trafficking in human beings with practices from another age.

The workers have indeed evoked over the course of the investigation, days at 14 hours a day under a blazing sun paid less than the hourly minimum wage, and sometimes deplorable housing conditions.

Aggravating circumstances

There are hundreds of farms of market gardeners, wine growers, fruit producers who have regularly called on this inexpensive labor over the years, because they are often in need of resources.

In addition, the hearings of employees, as well as of agricultural companies, revealed a permanent presence of these workers in France, throughout the year, and not only in season, hence the posting fraud.

Activity has continued to grow for Terra Fecundis, which today accounts for 57 million turnover.

The Marseille prosecutor's office retained the aggravating circumstance of acts committed "in an organized gang", and doubled the maximum penalty incurred, which is set at ten years in prison for this type of offense.

The farms that have employed them, on the other hand, are not at risk for the moment in any case.

A second trial is scheduled in the Gard next year for other facts of covert work, and Terra Fecundis will appear this time alongside operators who have used its services.

Finally, another procedure was opened by the prosecutor's office in Tarascon, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, according to revelations from the local investigative newspaper Marsactu, following clusters of Covid-19 discovered in homes of foreign workers put in place by Terra Fecundis.

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