Cathay Pacific Airways beats Labour Tribunal claim by retired flight attendants seeking ex gratia payments from 2017
- Five retired flight attendants demanded HK$175,00 in ex gratia payments after airline suffered record losses in 2017 and cancelled annual bonuses
- But tribunal sides with Cathay, finding that the airline had discretion to decide who was eligible
Cathay Pacific on Thursday beat a Labour Tribunal claim by five retired flight attendants who demanded HK$175,000 (US$22,000) in ex gratia payments after the airline suffered record losses in 2017 and cancelled its annual bonuses.
The five claimants had accused Cathay Pacific Airways of being “unjust and unconscionable” when it quietly abandoned a long-standing practice and excluded them from year-end payments because they had just retired.
But the tribunal dismissed their claim and sided with Cathay, finding that such payments were not guaranteed and that the company had rationally exercised its discretion in deciding who was eligible for the payments.
“The tribunal accepts that the defendant had to make a hard decision on allocation of resources,” said Jeremy Law, the deputy presiding officer. “It was not a bad faith decision.”
All five claimants were ordered by the tribunal to pay Cathay’s legal costs of HK$18,197 (US$2,321).
Erica Chan, vice-chairman of the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union, said the group was disappointed by the ruling and would look into an appeal to prevent a repeat of the case, which she called unprecedented.