An airline employee recently won a sex discrimination case against her employers, after being denied flexible hours when returning from maternity leave.

Emma Seville worked for Flybe airline as part of the cabin crew, for over a decade. Prior to going on maternity leave, she worked full time on a flexible schedule working any 22 days in a one-month period. After Seville gave birth to her son, she wanted to go back to work but requested a pre-arranged rota of 11 days each month. Seville asked for this special schedule because she was having difficulty finding nurseries or daycares for her child due to her unusual work situation. She felt that the updated schedule would remedy her issues. As an alternative, Seville also proposed job sharing. Both of these requests were denied by Flybe. Seville appealed the decision internally prior to taking her case to a tribunal. She claimed that the current arrangements for female cabin crew members were disadvantageous when compared to male counterparts.

Flybe responded by saying the request for flexible hours was definitely considered but that the scheduling would cause problems. The company added that there were fixed rota systems in place and shifts could be swapped between employees.

Seville won her legal claim for sex discrimination but lost the claim for flexible working hours. Human resource experts say the hearing is a fairly significant test case that could lead to flexible working schemes being adopted by female cabin-crew staff at other companies in the future. HR experts continue by explaining it will put all airlines on alert when it comes to making sure they are complying with principles laid down in this case to avoid any claims against them.