Order to rehire pilot overturned

An Employment Court order has allowed Pacific Blue to be named as the airline that sacked a Christchurch commercial jet pilot over an incident involving herbal drugs and alcohol.

Yesterday, the airline asked the Employment Court in Christchurch to overturn an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) order reinstating the pilot before the full hearing of his personal grievance against the airline in October.

Judge Tony Couch granted the application and also lifted an ERA suppression order over the airline's name. He continued suppression of the pilot's name.

The pilot was sacked in May over a party in June last year after which a Pacific Blue cabin attendant was found unconscious outside his house and then hospitalised.

At the party, alcohol was available and the pilot, who was on call at the time, handed out herbal pills called Red Alert. The woman was found to have benzylpiperazine (BZP) in her blood. The pilot had a history of alcohol abuse due to tragic personal events.

He was investigated by police for supplying an illegal class C drug, but not charged.

The judge said the case was unusual because the pilot was currently unable to carry out his duties as a commercial pilot. His licence had been suspended by the director of Civil Aviation in April until a hearing in October, which meant his reinstatement by the ERA had to be on garden leave.

The reinstatement was then purely for the purpose of ensuring the pilot continued to be paid his $93,000-a-year salary, he said.

Pacific Blue had paid the pilot until the second week in September.

The pilot claimed his financial situation was dire, but that was largely his own fault, because he had lived beyond his means, even when employed. As the pilot could not perform his duties, the reinstatement was entirely for the purpose of him receiving money, the judge said. That was insufficient reason to reinstate him in the circumstances.

The pilot now faces two hearings in October – one by Civil Aviation about whether he is a fit and proper person to fly passengers and one by the ERA.

The pilot was employed by Pacific Blue Employment and Crewing Ltd, but the judge said it was essentially the same organisation as Pacific Blue Airlines NZ Ltd.

- © Fairfax NZ News