Virgin Atlantic captain accused of having sex with stewardess during flight wins unfair dismissal case

Mike Lawson won an unfair dismissal case after he was rumoured to have had sex with an air stewardess during a long-haul flight

Mike Lawson was alleged to have had sex with the air stewardess while two of his co-pilots lay unconscious in the flight deck during a trip to Hong Kong in 2015.

But the hearing in Croydon, south London ruled the veteran pilot of almost 20 years had been sacked over “unsubstantiated rumours”. He was awarded £90,323 in compensation.

‘Shocking’ to hear rumours. The tribunal heard that before take-off, Mr Lawson’s two co-pilots complained of suffering from upset stomachs.

Their conditions worsened during the flight, with one of them fainting. There were incorrect rumours that they had been poisoned by the cabin crew in revenge for being made redundant.

The 50-year-old father of two made the decision to continue, but discovered afterwards that rumours about what had happened on the flight had started to circulate.

Mr Lawson was also said to have let the stewardess fly the plane, which had 200 passengers on board, while he took a break.

On October 13, he was called into a meeting with the flight safety manager and head of aircraft operations, who asked if he had had “40 winks” on the flight.

The tribunal heard that in Mr Lawson’s view, “to ask him if he had slept while in charge of 200 passengers and crew was shocking”.

“He wondered why the head of aircraft operations would think that any pilot in the company would do that,” it was said.

“He had heard personal rumours before. Pilots like to gossip. He knew that it was necessary to be thick-skinned in the job. Rumours from other pilots about his professional competency was a new experience for him. His abilities had never been questioned before.”

‘Remarkable’ that claims were allowed to influence process

Bosses at the airline, who feared he was not fit to fly, launched an investigation and fired him after he later failed two flight simulation exercises.

However, the tribunal found the tests were unfair and the hearing was told he had never failed such an exercise before. Mr Lawson claimed the process had been designed for him to perform poorly.

The following March, he went off sick and in May 2017, he was dismissed by the airline. Mr Lawson then sued Virgin for unfair dismissal.

The airline argued it had held long-standing concerns about the captain’s performance.

But the panel, headed by Employment Judge Brian Doyle, concluded these were “undocumented and unsubstantiated”.

The judge said Mr Lawson’s “fate may have been covertly and indirectly decided on unattested, undocumented specious grounds…and that he was not going to get a ‘fair crack at the whip’”.

The judge added: “The tribunal regards it as remarkable that this undocumented and unsubstantiated so-called ‘historical’ material was allowed to influence the process in any way.”

Mr Lawson originally made a claim for £2.4 million.