During a ۳۰-year career as a member of British Airways’ cabin crew, Tess De Mello took pride in a job well done, saying she regularly went above and beyond to make passengers more comfortable. To her, the role was more than just employment – it was part of her identity.
“I took pride,” she said. “I really took pride in myself, I took pride in my role, I took pride in everything because it was everything I wanted to be.”
But in ۲۰۲۰ she was let go when BA cut thousands of jobs in the face of economic pressures during the pandemic. The airline issued almost all of its ۴۲,۰۰۰ staff with redundancy notices, with ۱۰,۰۰۰ ultimately losing their jobs.
At the time, the Unite union representing cabin crew told the parliamentary transport select committee BA had taken a fire-and-rehire approach, with staff who remained having to accept pay cuts and demotions. MPs called it a “national disgrace”.
De Mello has spent the years since locked in legal battles with BA. It has not only been a courtroom drama but a personal ordeal.
There was a great amount of shame attached to her dismissal, she has said, leaving her fearing what those colleagues who had looked up to her would think upon learning she had been among those not kept on by BA.
“To have that taken away from you … I’ve been thinking, what would that person think about me now? Would they think I’ve done something wrong?
“The shame of being dismissed, for me, it was personal … You think people are going to judge you for doing something wrong.”
She said she was concerned her former colleagues would assume she had not been selected to stay because her performance had been deemed poor.
“I took such pride in my work, in my ability. I was always on top of things,” she said. “The shame stems from losing my job.”
BA had told its longest-serving cabin crew they should expect to take a ۲۰% basic pay cut to be retained. Unite later said salaries dropped by between ۱۵% and ۳۵%.
When De Mello asked for clarification of her exact salary upon being rehired and some time to consider, making sure to say explicitly she wanted to stay with the airline, she was told she would now be treated as if she had decided to leave, according to court documents for an unfair dismissal claim she later made against BA.
Judge Laurie Anstis found against her and a former colleague at an employment tribunal in Reading last year. They are appealing the ruling.
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They are also claiming they were underpaid their holiday entitlement while they were part-time workers for BA. If successful, the case could have ramifications across the aviation sector.
Because of the nature of the job, for those on part-time contracts working shorter days is not realistic. This meant working a block of full days on, followed by a block of days off. Their lawyers argue this classified them as “part-year” workers, similar to teachers, who are entitled to full-time holiday.
They cite a ۲۰۲۲ supreme court ruling that said: “The amount of leave to which a part-year worker under a permanent contract is entitled is not required by EU law to be, and under domestic law is not, prorated to that of a full-time worker.”
According to Unite, this type of shift pattern is standard across the industry, meaning that, were De Mello and her former colleague to win, the door would be open to similar claims from many other cabin crew workers – with the potential for huge financial outlay for airlines.
BA said: “In ۲۰۲۵, an employment tribunal dismissed claims brought by the two claimants relating to the steps British Airways took to avoid the collapse of the business and loss of thousands of jobs during the Covid-۱۹ pandemic.
“Finding in our favour and dismissing the claims, that employment tribunal determined that BA’s actions had been non-discriminatory and fair. We believe these latest claims are without merit. We will be making that clear to the tribunal.”
