Court orders Air Malta to pay more than €500,000 to 33 current and former cabin crew

National airline Air Malta has been ordered to pay over a total of €585,000 to 33 of its current and former cabin crew after finding a breach of the “equal pay for equal work” principle.

The principle was laid down in a 2017 collective agreement that introduced different remuneration for existing cabin crew and their more-recently engaged colleagues.

The plaintiffs had insisted that the 2017 collective agreement was an act of “institutionalised discrimination” against employees who had been engaged by the airline after 2018.

In a decision handed down by the Industrial Tribunal on July 25, Tribunal chairman Geoffrey Vella upheld the plaintiffs’ claim. Nine of the 42 employees who had initially filed the case, dropped their claim after opting for alternative employment.

Air Malta had argued that the collective agreement which had been negotiated, agreed upon and signed by the Union representing the cabin crew ought to be respected, insisting that the airline had respected the principle of “equal pay for equal work.”.

The Union of Cabin Crew, which was also made a defendant in the case, rejected the assertion that any discriminatory treatment could arise from the collective agreement which had been approved by its members.

The Tribunal, chaired by Geoffrey Vella, disagreed, ruling that the corrective mechanism bonus introduced by the collective agreement had left a number of workers who were precluded from working as much as they would have wanted to because of health problems or maternity leave, at a disadvantage.

The way the collective agreement had been reached had also led to discrepancies in take home pay between employees on the same salary scale and had also caused some employees on lower scales earning more than their seniors, it observed.

The Tribunal also took into account the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic had broken out during the period in which the collective agreement had been in force, and that Air Malta had introduced a minimum €1,200 monthly salary as “social pay” to avoid mass layoffs.

In quantifying the amount of compensation due to the workers, the Tribunal noted that some of them were also part of the Union’s Executive Committee, who had participated in the negotiations leading up to the agreement, which was subsequently approved by a majority of its members.

In awarding compensation, the Tribunal reduced the amount by 20% in view of its finding of contributory negligence on the part of the complainants, as they had adopted the collective agreement. The Union was cleared of legal responsibility by the Tribunal, which observed that the protection of employee wages was the responsibility of the employer, at law.

Different amounts were awarded to the individual employees as compensation, ranging from €9,600 to €35,000. The airline was given one month to pay.