The sentence in the case regarding reimbursements to TAP crew members has become final, paving the way for the company to have to pay up to 300 million euros in compensation, the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Personnel (SNPVAC) announced this Thursday.
“It is with great satisfaction that we officially announce that the process regarding CAB I has finally become final. It is a case of saying ‘justice takes time, but it does not fail'”, praised the union.
The union representing crew members announced, on September 29, that the Constitutional Court had rejected TAP’s appeal in the process over refunds to crew members, but the airline could still submit a complaint within ten days.
According to Diário de Notícias, TAP did not complain for the second time about a Constitutional decision and the sentence became final, that is, it became definitive and can no longer be challenged on appeal.
The court’s decision confirms the nullity of a rule in the previous collective bargaining agreement, which discriminated against workers with fixed-term contracts, and which according to the union could lead to the payment of between 200 and 300 million euros in compensation.
The SNPVAC said, in this Thursday’s statement, that it will now appeal to the courts of first instance “with the aim of forcing the company to correct the inevitable” and that in the coming weeks the first processes regarding the 2006 hiring year should be filed in the courts, followed by subsequent years.
First process has already started
This week the first lawsuit that was triggered in 2015 was filed, the outcome of which was, at the time, unfavorable to the crew.
“We are talking about a universe of 37 crew members who have been waiting for this outcome for a long time so that they can reverse the previous decision”, highlighted the union led by Ricardo Penarroias.
Despite this result, SNPVAC pointed out, “there is still a lot of work ahead, which could easily be reduced if the company and the Government decide to assume once and for all responsibilities in this process and choose to correct the situation of the thousands of injured crew members, without having to go to court to assert their rights, which have already been upheld by the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court”.
The case focuses on a provision in the crew members’ previous Company Agreement, valid between 2006 and 2023, which established salary differences between workers with fixed-term contracts and those with open-ended contracts.
In June, the Supreme Administrative Court declared this rule invalid, determining that fixed-term crew members should be classified in the “CAB I” category and receive the corresponding remuneration.
When asked about this legal process, TAP responds that it “does not comment on legal matters”.
Furthermore, given that some of these crew members were supposed to be part of the company’s staff, some layoffs that occurred during the pandemic were considered irregular.
Following the pandemic and the restructuring plan, between March 2020 and March 2021, 1,514 people left the company.
By the beginning of this year, 925 workers from various professional classes had been readmitted, to whom compensation totaling 1.74 million euros had been paid.