Pilot says Ryanair forced him to leave

A PILOT has claimed that Ryanair subjected him to a “systematic and ongoing campaign of harassment”, which forced him to resign.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal heard yesterday that Joe Peard from Dublin was claiming constructive dismissal. He worked at Ryanair for more than four years before handing in his notice on June 29th last year. Mr Peard now works for the Emirates airline in the Middle East.

He has claimed he was denied promotion, that his roster was manipulated to reduce his pay, and that he was deliberately underpaid.

The claims will be fully disputed by Ryanair. The airline will claim that he was not dismissed and that he left voluntarily to work with the Emirates airline. It will also claim that he was offered further training before he resigned.

When proceedings got under way yesterday, counsel for Ryanair claimed that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. Martin Hayden SC, for Ryanair, said Mr Peard’s representatives had failed to provide Ryanair with details of the claims.

While Mr Peard was claiming harassment, he did not say who harassed him or when, Mr Hayden said. This put Ryanair in an “invidious” position because it could not deal with the claims. This meant that the process lacked fair procedure, he said.

Representing Mr Peard, Michael Landers of Impact said there was no statutory provision to give such information. He said he did not accept Ryanair’s bona fides in seeking this information, and claimed the airline was seeking it to make the hearing of the case more difficult.

Chairwoman of the tribunal Emile Daly agreed that the tribunal’s framework did not oblige parties to provide such detail, but she encouraged both parties to reduce the areas of contention before evidence was heard. The hearing was adjourned until November 11th.