FAT won lawsuit against its pilot after it closed down

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

A female pilot from Taiwan signed a contract to serve Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) for 10 years, but left after working for more than two years. The airline took her to court and claimed more than NT$2 million. The court ruled that the airline won the case. It is kind of funny that the winning airline has closed down and grounded.

Based on Taiwan media reports, FAT filed a claim that Chen Xufen signed a flight pilot training contract with FAT on 1 September 2010, stipulating that she should participate in the flight pilot training provided by the company and be appointed as pilot of FAT for at least 10 years from the date of serving as a flight pilot. If there is any violation, Chen should compensate the company for losses. She was hired as a deputy pilot on 1 November 2011. According to the agreement, Chen Xufen must at least work for FAT by 2021.

The company alleged that Chen gave up her high salary of NT$129,000 per month and left her job on 1 October 2014. Therefore, FAT asked for training expenses and living allowances for a total of more than 2.02 million NTD. Her two contractual joint guarantors should also be jointly and severally liable with Chen.

Chen argued that she did not obtain a civil aviation pilot license when signing the contract. So the right claimed by FAT was "appointment" when signing the contract. The airline was not allowed to claim the right to the minimum service period, and she was on duty at the aviation office during the training period, responsible for receiving and sending official documents. The supervisor instructs the provision of labor services and carries out passenger flight missions in the third stage of development training, which shall not be included in the calculation of liquidated damages. In addition, during the previous financial crisis of FAT, it was not until 18 April 2011 that the flight resumed. So she was only hired on 1 November 2011 and the number of years of service started. Chen believes that it is unfair.

The Taipei District Court of the first instance sentenced the deputy pilot Chen and others to pay more than 470,000 NTD. After the case was appealed, the Taiwan High Court was tried in the second instance, and the deputy pilot Chen and others were sentenced to compensation of more than 1.91 million NTD. The case was abandoned by the Supreme Court of the Taiwan region and returned to the High Court for a new trial.

Furthermore, the first-instance judgment pointed out that the contract between the two parties has clearly stipulated the minimum service life and the date of calculation, the amount and items to be compensated for violation of the minimum service life, and FAT may seek compensation in accordance with the contract.

In the first trial, the deputy pilot surnamed Chen should pay more than 1.91 million NTD (approximately 440,000 NTD) for training expenses and other liquidated damages, and the two contractual joint guarantors should also be liable for compensation. The deputy pilot surnamed Chen and others appealed against it. On 22 March 2021, it was rejected by the Supreme Court and the whole case was confirmed.

According to the aviation industry, FAT is established on 5 June 1957. It initially provided mail delivery and other services. In 1962, it launched regular passenger routes. It mainly operated Penghu and Kinmen routes. In 2008, the financial crisis broke out and operations were suspended. Chairman Zhang Gangwei took over and officially resumed the flight in April 2011. Since 13 December 2019, the flight was grounded without warning due to financial problems. Because it did not apply for the grounding in advance, Taiwan’s transportation authority officially announced the abolition of FAT's AOC on 31 January 2020.