PARIS (AP) — France's national rail operator has been convicted of discrimination against more than 800 Moroccan employees.

The SNCF had been sentenced to pay more than 170 million euros ($210 million at current exchange rates) in compensation back in 2015 after a court specializing in labor disputes ruled that 832 "chibanis" — which translates as "white hair" — were offered less generous contracts than French colleagues when they were hired in the 1970's.

SNCF appealed the rulings but a Paris court upheld the decision, the operator said in a statement late Wednesday.

The Moroccan workers were not offered the rail workers' status including numerous advantages and benefits. SNCF says employees must have French citizenship to be hired as rail workers or, since 1991, to be nationals from a European Union country.