RYANAIR is being sued in a French court over claims that staff at its Marseille base are illegally working on Irish employment contracts.

The low-cost airline is accused by two pilots' unions of ignoring a government decree introduced in November 2006 requiring foreign airlines with staff based in France to comply with French employment law.

The unions say Ryanair is ignoring the code du travail and not paying French social charges.

Rival Easyjet faces a fine of €225,000 for a similar practice after it emerged that 170 staff working at Orly airport in Paris in 2006 were on British contracts.