A South Korean court has ruled that an airline’s decision to lay off pilots during the COVID-19 pandemic was justified. (Image courtesy of Pixabay)
SEOUL, Jul. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – A South Korean court has ruled that an airline’s decision to lay off pilots during the COVID-19 pandemic was justified, given the severe economic challenges faced by the aviation industry.
The Seoul Administrative Court recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by 29 pilots who were laid off from Airline A in 2020. The pilots had challenged a decision by the Central Labor Relations Commission that deemed their termination lawful.
Airline A, facing financial difficulties exacerbated by the pandemic, laid off 605 employees in 2020. Twenty-nine of the dismissed pilots filed for relief with the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission in December 2020, arguing that their termination constituted unfair dismissal and unfair labor practices.
The regional commission initially ruled partly in favor of the pilots, stating that the airline had not made sufficient efforts to avoid layoffs.
However, Airline A appealed this decision to the Central Labor Relations Commission in June 2021. When the central commission overturned the regional decision, concluding that the dismissals could not be considered unfair, the affected pilots took legal action.
The court, in its ruling, acknowledged the unprecedented challenges faced by the airline industry during the pandemic. “Even before COVID-19, Airline A was experiencing a management crisis. When the demand for flights virtually disappeared due to the pandemic, the company’s debt rapidly increased,” the court stated. It added that the airline could not have predicted how long the suspension of flights and the resulting business losses would continue.
The court also found that Airline A had made sincere efforts to avoid layoffs. These efforts included implementing voluntary unpaid leave rotations, negotiating salary reductions with the pilots’ union, and conducting four rounds of voluntary retirement programs.
The criteria used for selecting employees for dismissal were deemed objective and socially reasonable by the court. These criteria included average performance evaluations over the past three years, disciplinary records, and commendations.
Addressing concerns about the fairness of performance evaluations, the court stated, “Performance evaluations are fundamentally the authority of the employer. Even if qualitative elements are included in the nature of personnel evaluations, this cannot be definitively judged as arbitrary or an abuse of authority.”
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
