Jobless ex-air steward lamenting over lost case of harassment to foreign air stewardess

Dear Gilbert,

I heard of your presence online and thank you for championing causes for the unemployed.

Almost 3 years ago, I joined one of the airlines as a cabin crew.

Throughout the entire period, I have faced no issues,or hiccups in the process of service,and have an unblemished conduct record and no lapses,as attested by the company.

Unfortunately,at the beginning of this year, I was terminated on the spot after a brief disciplinary inquiry procedure on alleged out-of-hour misconduct, amounting to harassment after a tiring day at work.

Some questions, which were very vague in nature were asked, and I certainly did not have any recount to what had really happened.

Subsequently, I filed an appeal for unfair dismissal to MOM,and was asked to attend several sessions to mediate, minimally very little information was given to me via the company ,until when the whole process collapsed, such that when their defence was provided and forwarded to me almost two months later.

I felt appalled as I certainly did not do anything wrong.

If I had, I would have walked away silently.

They did offer me an opportunity to come back and resign again but with notice pay after the process had collapsed, rather than accepting the earlier termination, but it also does raise doubts whether this amounted to admittance to something that I didn’t do.

Its true that some of us out there may face unfair dismissal, and have to walk out of a pit dug out so deep.

Despite tendering admissible evidence for them to verify way before they presented their side of the story, neither the company would comment or acknowledged they had made a mistake on the decision,with only of one of them expressing whether the company may have mishandled the matter.

Subsequently, when they presented their defence, I provided further proof to prove there are loopholes,and discrepancies in their side of the story, etc but  the company took no notice and also declined to comment.

Some statements from the victim were made way after the incident itself and also the company justified itself to protect its employees.

Honestly, I have no issues against my foreign friends, which  comprise as one of the majorities in the company’s employment base.

n fact, to re-emphatise the challenges they faced whilst adapting to life working here, I hope to be seen as a friend they could turn to, but for the company to protect its foreign employee, based on their sloppy defence,which worked barely less than a year at the point of the alleged incident, is totally unacceptable.

In fact, vocal replies from them, saying that police reports have been made against me, and that legal action will ensure soon after, so why I should fear prosecution until now,when nothing has happened to me?

if I have not  done anything wrong. if prior contact had been established between the victim and the decision-maker, can I claim that there was alleged interest in the consequences thereafter,and it had not followed natural justice principles?

Seemingly, there would be those who question whether to justify dismissal, there has to be a clear relationship between the conduct and employment and that an employer can glean on the principles that they can rely on a certain misconduct in defence of any action for wrongful dismissal, even if at the date of the dismissal, the misconduct was not known to him.

Obviously, to take the easier way out, it would be right  to advocate for the victim’s rights to get rid of the so-called perceived accused, with the victim’s defence ,have they thought that what if theiswas a cooked-up story by the victim?

Technically, to re-hire is easier,after all, the new hire would not be entitled to any loyalty benefits and fulfilment of contractual obligations at a sooner time.

Such cases of false accusations are fairly common in any society, they are a great inconvenience and a waste of expenses.

Sometimes,an innocent person is falsely named and subject to unnecessary investigations.A lot of these accusations are made out of anger,and is often made by someone who wanted to exact revenge on the accused.

False reports are vindicated, but how many go punished,but what about false accusations?

There are so many professions,where people are more at risk than others of being wrongfully accused,and the circumstances which the matter had developed is scary and humiliating.

My parents are lower-incomed workers and my younger brother is going through the remainder of his university education.

If I didn’t had to supplement the family income to relieve some hardships faced throughout these years, I wouldn’t have persisted fighting back for my reputation, when most jobs or employment applications, part-time or full time, asked a question on dismissal.

I can only answer honestly and face  rejections along the way, whom they seemed interested in hearing about my plight than offering me a chance.

To spend a lot of money to fight back for something that I didn’t do wrong is a woeful approach to ending  this matter.

As to other avenues for help, I have been “rolled” over from one place to another.

Other than that,out of the fifty or sixty applications I sent recently,receiving only two miserable replies is in fact saddening, if not less woeful that the hundreds some sent out.