Cathay can appeal against pay ruling that could cost HK$100m

Cathay Pacific got the green light yesterday to appeal against a court ruling that threatened to make the airline settle as much as HK$100 million in back-pay claims.

Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung granted Cathay's request to fight the Labour Tribunal decision last month, which had awarded three flight attendants the right to have certain allowances included in their holiday pay. Thousands of similar claims had been lodged against Cathay. But the airline said the tribunal's ruling would not force it to settle with other employees.

A key question in the appeal would be whether the allowances were a contractual obligation or a discretionary payment, the Court of First Instance hearing was told.

Mr Justice Cheung agreed that the airline, which had argued the allowances were discretionary, met the legal burden to appeal against the tribunal's ruling. 'They do raise arguable questions of law,' he said.

On January 12, the tribunal decided that the airline had to include line-duty and ground-duty allowances in the attendants' holiday pay. Those allowances were paid on top of their normal salary based on the number of hours worked - a system meant to ensure attendants would not lose money when they took leave.

That ruling had marked a victory for Becky Kwan Siu-wa, Vera Wu Yee-mei and Jenny Ho Kit-man, who had claimed they were underpaid for six years between 2002 and last year.