British Airways stewardess sacked for being too scared to fly WINS discrimination case

A British Airways flight attendant who had graced the skies for almost 40 years, has successfully won a discrimination claim after she was sacked for being afraid to fly.

For the best part of four decades, Jennifer Clifford was a dedicated and committed employee prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, a tribunal heard. However, once the virus hit and the country faced a sustained lockdown, Ms.Clifford was placed on furlough and then sick leave.

During this period of leave, she suffered from the symptoms of stress and depression, which eventually became so bad that it lead to her being declared medically unfit to fly.

Given the severity of her condition, Ms.Clifford was temporarily moved to a ground based role, but as she was unable to resume her duties in the air by the end of 2022, BA chose to terminate her employment, reports the Daily Mail.

Following her dismissal, Ms Clifford sued BA claiming that her manager had "minimised" the severity of her condition by describing it as "just a little bit of anxiety."

Rose up the ranks

And an employment tribunal has now found in her favour after they concluded that British Airways should have given her more credit for her long service and made more of an effort to find her alternative employment within the company that didn't require any flying.

She is now set to receive compensation for the dismissal.

At the hearing, which took place in Reading, Berkshire, the tribunal heard how Ms.Clifford first joined the company back in 1983, when she kickstarted her career as a member of cabin crew.

Proving herself to be a competent and integral team member, she soon rose through the ranks within the flight crew and by the time of the pandemic, had risen to the rank of inflight manager, when she was placed on furlough in April 2020.

During her period of leave she was told that she would be made redundant in August 2020, however this was later backtracked and she was offered a role as a cabin crew member two grades below her existing position - something she expressed a grievance about.

'If you don't like working here then leave'

She continued to remain on furlough until September 2021, at which point she transitioned to sick leave, based on depression and work related stress. Crucially, this marked her first ever period of sick leave in almost 40 years of working for BA.

In order to return to work, Ms.Clifford herself proposed a phased return from Gatwick Airport, despite being typically based at Heathrow. This meant she could reduce her commuting time. She also requested to work on the ground for two days a week.

However, by September 2022, she was told that if she didn't make herself fit to fly, then a termination date would be issued and she would lose her job.

She was later offered a role in the Heathrow Help Hub, an area which help flyers and disabled passengers within the airport.

Yet during this time, her manager, Nigel Landy minimised the impact her illness had on her, and described her debilitating symptoms as having "just a little bit on anxiety" and said "if you don't like working here then leave", the tribunal heard.

A termination date was set for March 2023 due to her inability to fly, but she left the company in December 2022.

The Tribunal upheld her claims of disability discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments and unfair dismissal, with Employment Judge Emma Hawksworth concluding: "Ms Clifford needed a phased return in a ground duties placement before returning to her full contractual flying role.

"That was because of the need to rebuild her confidence and to give time to adjust to working again, and these requirements arose from her disability.

"She remained unable, because of anxiety and depression, to return to her flying role when required to do so by [British Airways] at the end of the resourcing and recruitment placement.

"Mr Landy telling [Ms Clifford] she had "just a little bit of anxiety" was clumsy and suggested to [Ms Clifford] that he was minimising her condition. It came across as an attempt to dismiss how she was feeling.

'Very long service'

"[Ms Clifford] had very long service with [BA]. She had had a lengthy period of absence from work, in part because of things for which she was not responsible: a long period of furlough and a long period when the respondent was considering her grievance.

"A reasonable employer would have given her a longer and more suitable phased return and would, in line with its policy, have considered redeployment to a ground based role before deciding to dismiss her."

An additional claim of sex discrimination was dismissed.