BA bids to quash ruling on Hong Kong cabin crew
BRITISH Airways will this week attempt to overturn a court ruling preventing it from making its Hong Kong-based female cabin crew retire at the age of 45 without a pension.
BA is asking the Court of Appeal to quash an earlier ruling that it must apply UK anti-discrimination law to its international cabin crew.
In January, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) upheld an Employment Tribunal 2008 decision that BA was wrong to claim the women’s Hong Kong nationality exempted them from UK law.
The case, affecting 24 staff, is due to take place at the Court of Appeal later this week.
Trade union Unite, which is representing the cabin crew, called BA’s stance “a stain on the reputation of a leading and iconic British company.”
BA said: ”All the claimants are former BA cabin crew who lived and worked in Hong Kong and (were) employed under Hong Kong law.”