Villa Air loses High Court appeal in dismissal of staff over sexual harassment allegations

High Court has upheld an Employment Tribunal ruling ordering Villa Air to pay six months’ salary in compensation to an employee who was terminated following sexual harassment allegations.

The case pertains to the dismissal of a Ground Operations Assistant at Villa Air on March 8, 2023, following allegations that he had sexually harassed a female colleague at the Male' Lounge.

The Employment Tribunal had previously determined that the dismissal was neither substantively nor procedurally fair. As a result, Villa Air was ordered to pay the former employee six months’ salary, calculated at a monthly rate of MVR 10,200, as compensation. Villa Air, dissatisfied with the decision, appealed the case to the High Court, which ultimately upheld the ruling in favor of the former employee.

The presiding bench determined that there were no legal grounds to overturn the Tribunal’s decision. Among the key findings in the High Court judgment was that the evidence contained in the company’s investigative report was insufficient to establish the alleged sexual harassment to the civil standard of proof. The court further noted that although the employee had received prior warnings, those records could only support termination if the allegations in the present case had been substantiated, which the court found had not occurred.

The High Court judges also found that Villa Air had failed to comply with the procedural fairness requirements in the termination process.

The judgment upholding the Employment Tribunal’s ruling by Judge Huzaifa Mohamed, the presiding judge in the case, was unanimously backed by Judge Abdulla Jameel Moosa and Judge Ismail Shafeeu on the bench.