British Airways flight attendant sacked for being 'too anxious' to fly wins unfair dismissal claim

Jennifer Clifford had been a BA airhostess for nearly 40 years before the Covid pandemic struck and she was place on furlough and sick leave.

She developed symptoms of stress and anxiety during this period and was pronounced unfit to fly, an employment tribunal heard.

Ms Clifford was temporarily moved to a ground role but was still unable to fly by the end of 2022, when she was sacked.

She sued BA alleging that a manager had “minimised” the extent of her condition after he downplayed it as “just a little bit of anxiety”.

Nigel Landy, her manager, also reportedly said that “if you don’t like working here then leave”.

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Ms Clifford is now in line for compensation after the tribunal found the airline should have taken into account her long history with the company and worked around her needs.

Ms Clifford began working for BA in 1983 as a member of cabin crew, the tribunal in Reading heard, rising to the position of flight manager by 2020.

But in August 2020, she was informed that she would be made redundant.

BA later revoked her redundancy and offered her a cabin crew role, two grades underneath her previous rank, which she was not happy about.

Ms Clifford stayed on furlough until September 2021 before going on sick leave.

She also proposed a phased return from London Gatwick Airport, instead of her normal base at Heathrow.

In September 2022, she was told that if she did not make herself fit to fly then – then her contract would be terminated in March 2023.

Taking action against BA, Ms Clifford made claims of the company's failure to make reasonable adjustments and unfair dismissal.

Ms Clifford also made an additional claim of sex discrimination, which was dismissed.

A disability-related harassment claim was also not upheld.

Upholding the rest of her claims, Employment Judge Emma Hawksworth ruled: “Ms Clifford needed a phased return in a ground duties placement before returning to her full contractual flying role.

“That was because of the need to rebuild her confidence and to give time to adjust to working again, and these requirements arose from her disability.”

She added that the manager’s comments about her anxiety were “clumsy and suggested to [Ms Clifford] that he was minimising her condition”.

“A reasonable employer would have given her a longer and more suitable phased return ... and would, in line with its policy, have considered redeployment to a ground-based role before deciding to dismiss her,” the judge added.

Ms Clifford’s compensation payment will be decided at a later date.