Re:A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
by talmand on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @09:36AM
(#12389920)
Right, and in that case the worker would not be punished for the illegal activities of the employer.
Re:A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
by pedrocr on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @09:54AM
(#12390095)
In this analogy the worker is Ireland and the employer Apple. The analogy would be that the worker must now receive, and the employer now pay, the difference between the contract and the minimum wage. Just like Apple must now pay and Ireland now receive the extra tax.
Re:A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
by talmand on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @10:08AM
(#12390257)
I require extra explanation. Are you saying that Apple wrote Ireland's tax laws that have been deemed improper?
Re:A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
by mechagodzilla on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @01:22PM
(#12392010)
Ireland gave Apple tax breaks that were not theirs to give. Just as a worker can't give a break to an employer and work for less than minimum wage (even if they want to, and even if they wrote the contract!). The ruling was effectively saying "Apple does actually owe those taxes to Ireland, even if they were willing to forgo them, since it is against EU rules for Ireland to give tax breaks of that nature." It actually is reasonably equivalent to a court declaring a company needs to give backpay to a worker to make their wages equivalent to minimum wage, even if the worker doesn't want the money.
Yes and no - the EC's argument makes a bit more sense imo: Yes, it was legal in the sense that Apple broke no irish tax laws. But the tax laws themselves have violated some higher-level EU laws that Ireland had pledged to obey - at least that's how the EC sees it.
Perhaps a more fitting (but still horrible) analogy were if you make an employment contract far below mandatory minimum wage. Neither you nor your employer is violating the contract and both of you might be perfectly happy with the conditions - but your contract might stil cause disadvantages to third parties (other workers) and might violate state laws.