Hong Kong Airlines recently announced a monthly anti-epidemic allowance of HK$3,000 to employees for three months. However, some employees of the company have complained that the subsidy payment plan is unfair. If it is only paid to employees who are on duty, those who participate in the voluntary Long Pay Leave Scheme launched by the company need to participate in additional training activities to receive part of the allowance. Perks, employees question a bunch of companies playing furloughs. Hong Kong Airlines did not respond to the unfair criticism, saying only that the plan was to thank employees for supporting the company during the pandemic.
Ms. Chen (pseudonym), who works as a flight attendant at Hong Kong Airlines, has participated in the voluntary paid leave program. She will be paid a basic monthly salary of HK$15,000 a month following she has been suspended for 6 months. She is dissatisfied with the employees who are required to participate in the paid leave program. Part of the subsidy can only be obtained by participating in retraining programs and seminars. Taking her rank as an example, she needs to accumulate enough 10 points in a month to get a maximum allowance of HK$8,000, including the above-mentioned anti-epidemic allowance of HK$2,000. She bluntly said that getting 10 points is an “impossible task”, and she is dissatisfied with the company for making things difficult.
Ye Weiming, secretary general of the Hong Kong Aviation Industry Federation, pointed out that airlines should treat employees equally, and employees who voluntarily take paid leave will share the difficulties with the company. It would be unfair to leave them with allowances. Hong Kong Airlines laid off 700 employees in the middle of last year, and 600 Hong Kong employees were approved to participate in the voluntary paid leave scheme.