Air India Express Terminates Cabin Crew For 'Premeditated' Sick Leave Disruptions

Air India Express has terminated the contracts of 30 cabin crew members who called in sick and resulted in disruptions to flight operations. The number of job terminations will likely increase, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

"This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason," the company said in the note addressed to the terminated employees.

The note referred to a specific incident on May 7, 2024, where the terminated employees were scheduled for a flight but informed the scheduling team at the last moment that they were unwell and unable to report for duty. It was observed that a significant number of other cabin crew members also called in sick around the same time, leading to the disruption of operations, the letter added.

Due to the shortage of cabin crew, the carrier had to cancel over 80 flights Wednesday, and about 74 flights on Thursday so far.

This caused considerable inconvenience to passengers of the company, the airline said in the termination letter. "Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, severe reputational damage, and serious monetary loss to the company."

"Your act of reporting sick for work amounts to a concerted action with a common understanding, to not operate the flight and to disrupt services of the company," it said. "This is not only in violation of the applicable laws, but also violates the Air India Express Limited Employees' Service Rules as are applicable to you".

The company has decided to terminate the employment with immediate effect on and from the date of this letter, "and accordingly: (i) you will no longer be considered an employee of the company, and the company will no longer have any obligations to you as an employer; (ii) you will no longer have access to any official emails, servers, other communication, and any all information relating to the company; and (iii) you and/or your dependents shall not be eligible for any employee related benefits provided by the company," the note read.

The carrier will operate on a curtailed schedule till May 13, sources told NDTV. The management is also holding a townhall with the staff on Thursday.