[Excerpt translation from Chinese to English provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"China Southern Airlines flight attendant's arbitration case opens today, company says suspension from flight is for attendant's own good", 21 July 2020

Triggering heated debate after his private information was uploaded to the social media by a third party, former flight attendant of China Southern Airlines Li Cheng-Kai (Pseudonym) was suspended by the company from flying for 6 months and did not get his contract renewed after it had expired. Li later filed a labour arbitration case. The case was heard on 21 July at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Commission. The representatives of China Southern Airlines and their attorneys said that the decision to suspend Li from flying was not a form of punishment, but rather a “reasonable” work arrangement aimed at “protecting” him.  

Zhong Xia-Lu, the attorney representing the plaintiff, believed that this statement was invalid. Firstly, after announcing the decision to suspend Li from flying, according to China Southern Airlines’ internal software for flying crews, the working status of Li was shown to be “suspended” and remarked with “Penalty” and as such, suspension from flying was obviously a punishment instead of a work arrangement. Secondly, if China Southern Airlines was of the view that the mental state of the plaintiff rendered him “unsuitable” for discharging his duties, he should be appraised by an aviation doctor or assessed by the relevant departments. In fact, Li had obtained a health certificate for civil aviation cabin crew in November 2019 and the assessment results showed that the mental state of the plaintiff was satisfactory for him to perform his duties. Meanwhile, the plaintiff had also passed the internal safety training assessment of China Southern Airlines, showing that he could guarantee the safety of the cabin…

The representative of China Southern Airlines said that Li violated its internal labour regulations, 10 prohibitions of China Southern Airlines and the negative behaviour list. The 10 prohibitions prohibit staff members from using negative words and engaging in negative behaviour that would damage China Southern Airlines’ image; however, it was not the plaintiff who disclosed Li’s homosexuality and work unit and slandered the his actions in malicious interception of videos…

… the arbitrator asked the representatives of China Southern Airlines whether the plaintiff’s behaviour had caused any losses to the company and what those losses were, but the company representatives did not respond directly…  

China Southern Airlines claimed in its Social Responsibility Report 2019 that it “actively complies with international conventions on labor and human rights and advocates equal and non-discriminatory employment policies”…