Dismissed pilot wins bid for permanent name suppression

A pilot's dismissal for sexual harassment has been upheld. File photo / Thinkstock

A 50-year-old pilot who lost his job after sexually harassing a 19-year-old flight attendant has won his bid to have his name permanently suppressed.

The pilot worked for the company, whose name is suppressed, from 2005 until he was dismissed on September 26, 2013.

He took a claim of unjustified dismissal and personal grievance to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), which was dismissed.

The ERA has now granted the pilot's request to suppress his identity and the identity of his employer.

The pilot and flight attendant were working a flight to a Pacific destination which involved an overnight lay-over on August 17, 2013.

The flight attendant had started working for the company only on August 1, 2013 and this was her first lay-over job.

She said the flight crew were staying together at a hotel and had dinner and drinks together, then spent time together by the swimming pool at the hotel the following day.

The flight attendant left the group who were swimming at the pool and went back to her room.

The flight attendant and pilot gave different accounts of the events surrounding the incident to the fleet manager who conducted interviews following the formal complaint.

The pilot said he was invited in to her room, sat on her bed and accidentally touched her leg with the outside of her hand.

The flight attendant said the pilot came in to her room uninvited, sat on the bed next to her and touched the inside of her leg from her knee to near her groin.

The flight attendant later told other members of the flight crew what had happened and made a formal complaint about the incident when she was back in New Zealand.

The fleet manager favoured the flight attendant's account of what happened, and the ERA found the touch to the leg was sexual and that the pilot had been justifiably dismissed.