Indian airline sacks fat stewardesses
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 08:23:00 01/06/2009
Filed Under: Air Transport, Employment
NEW DELHI -- India's state-run carrier Air India has dismissed 10 women flight attendants who were grounded last year for being overweight, a report said Monday.
The sackings came after the cabin crew were warned about meeting minimum physical fitness standards and given sufficient time to lose weight, the Press Trust of India news agency reported quoting airline sources.
The flight attendants were also offered alternative ground assignments which they refused, the report said.
Delhi High Court last year upheld Air India's right to reassign overweight attendants, citing clauses in their contracts that barred them from flight duties if they put on too much weight.
The court had noted that the state-run airline needed fit attendants to compete with private rivals in India's fiercely competitive aviation market.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the sacked cabin crew Monday said the dismissals were against the law as the case was being heard by India's Supreme Court.
"The action is illegal and against the natural justice. I will soon file an application in the Supreme Court against the (sacking) order," lawyer Arvind Sharma told the news agency.
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