Sacked HK Airlines Staff 'get Zero In Compensation'

Flight attendants fired recently by Hong Kong Airlines complained that they were short-changed, with more than 150 of them not receiving any compensation after their severance pay was offset by their retirement fund.

The cash-strapped carrier fired around 250 staff last month, blaming the coronavirus pandemic.

A concern group said in a survey of 167 of those who lost their jobs, 90 percent said they ended up getting no compensation from the airline.

That's because money was taken from their Mandatory Provident Fund to offset severance pay under its existing mechanism.

Staff explained that Hong Kong Airlines calculated severance pay based on their wages over the past 12 months, when flight attendants were mostly sitting idle with the pandemic shutting down the aviation sector.

A spokeswoman, Mary, said according to legal opinion they sought, their severance pay should instead be based on their salaries received under normal circumstances.

"Let's take our five-year experienced flight attendant as an example. If we are taking her salary as in 2019, then the total she would be paid and she would be getting is HK$67,000. Now when Hong Kong Airlines is taking their own calculations, then the same ranking colleague will be only getting HK$37,000 as the final payment. That's a really big difference," she said.

The concern group said Hong Kong Airlines saved an estimated HK$3.4 million in severance pay.

It's demanding a meeting with the airline management and urged the Labour Department to intervene.

The group also noted that the Hong Kong-based carrier had received HK$154 million in employment retention subsidies from the government.

"We are so disappointed... The redundancies we can all understand. But is it okay for you to pay us back, as you are getting such a large lump sum of money?" Mary said.

The chairwoman of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Carol Ng, who is helping the workers, said she is concerned that other companies may follow in Hong Kong Airlines' footsteps should they decide to lay off staff in the coming months.

In an email response given to the sacked workers, Hong Kong Airlines says compensation packages offered to staff comply fully with the Employment Ordinance.