AI Express terminates 25 employees who called in sick, asks others to report for duty by 4pm today

New Delhi: The Air India Express on Wednesday terminated 25 of its cabin crew members who reported sick as part of a protest against the management policies. In a letter to its employees, the Tata-owned airline said that the decision to report sick by multiple crew members in the last moment was a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work. The termination letter goes on to say that the employee action violates the conditions listed in their contract and that their employment will be terminated with immediate effect.

The Tata Group-owned airline has also given an ultimatum to the remaining cabin crew members reporting sick to join back duty by 4 pm on Thursday or face termination. Air India Express has cancelled at least 60 flights for Thursday due to the non-availability of cabin crew, the sources said and added that mass leaves by a section of the cabin crew have caused immense inconvenience to passengers. There are around 1,400 cabin crew, including about 500 at the senior level, at the airline.

The firm had cancelled more than 90 flights since Tuesday night as a section of cabin crew reported sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline, impacting around 15,000 passengers. Read More: Air India Express cabin crew strike: A spillover of long brewing discontent?

Faced with cabin crew shortage, the airline, which operates a significant number of flights to the Gulf, has decided to curtail flights till May 13. Air India Express is to operate around 360 flights daily to domestic and international destinations

Contents of the letter are as follows:
“It is in reference to your employment with Air India Express Limited ("Company") in the capacity ofCabin Crew Executive. It has been reported that you were rostered for a flight on 07.05.2024.It has been reported that you were rostered for a flight on 07.05.2024. However, you informed the Scheduling team at the last moment that you were unwell and accordingly reporting sick. It is noted that at or around the same time, an overwhelming number of other cabin crew members have also reported sick and have not reported for their duties. This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason.

“As a result of the above, a large number of flights had to be cancelled thereby disrupting the entire schedule, which caused tremendous inconvenience to the Company's esteemed passengers. 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. 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.
Your above action also contravenes the following clauses of the revised terms and conditions of your employment contract, effective April 01, 2023:.
"3.5 Roster and Flying Duties: You will be required to keep yourself available to undertake flying duties,standby duties or any other duties that may be assigned as per the roster prepared by the Company..."and
"3.15(g) Additional Undertakings: At all times during the Term, you also undertake that you will maintain the highest standard of work ethic, character, and conduct."
In view of the above, the Company has decided to terminate your 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, any and 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.”