Case Commentary: Air India Cabin Crew V. Yeshawinee Merchant And Other, (2003) 6 SCC 277

Sree Bhavan P S, Bennett University (Times of India Group)

INTRODUCTION:

The topic of gender discrimination in Air India flight attendants' retirement age is at the centre of the historic case "Air India Cabin Crew v. Yeshawinee Merchant and Others." For some context, here it is:

Context of the Case: The case originated from the approximately thirty-year-long previous case of Air India v. Nargesh Meerza. The air hostesses in this instance waged a legal struggle to ensure that male and female personnel had equal retirement benefits. Female attendants had to retire at age 35, whereas male workers might stay until they were 58. The Government of India passed legislation in 1989 allowing female attendants to be offered acceptable ground staff duties beyond the age of 35 and retire at the age of 58, equivalent to their male counterparts, in response to a petition brought before the Lok Sabha addressing this prejudice.

Air India announced in 1990 that female flight attendants who reached 45 years of age would be assigned to appropriate ground service positions. In 1993, this age restriction was raised to 50 years old, provided the pilot was medically fit for flight responsibilities. In 1995, an agreement was made with the Air India cabin crew after the split of Air India into Air India and Indian Airlines. According to this contract, cadres hired after 1997 would be regarded as equal workers and would have a new retirement age of 58 years; cadres hired before then would be handled in accordance with the previous guidelines.

A number of air hostesses who are getting close to 50 years old, such as Yeshawinee Merchant, objected to this notice, claiming it discriminated against female workers who started working before 1997 because of their gender. The Bombay High Court, where they were transferred from the National Industrial Tribunal, ruled that the notification was discriminatory. In its ruling, the High Court suggested combining the two flying attendant cadres—those hired before 1997 and those hired after—and established guidelines for flight attendant seniority and compensation.