Originally Posted by
Mercyful Fate
A company policy manual however, if violated can give grounds for legal action. If someone is terminated or disciplined, (depending on severity) that company policy manual absolutely can be used as a defense. Company policy manuals are a two way street, protecting management and employees.
Would be interesting to see how familiar your pilot group is to actual company policies, instead of relying on SAPA as their source of information.
It wouldn't be practical to expect anyone to pursue legal action since the pilot would have to fund it on his or her own as an individual since SAPA is funded by the company they obviously can't do it. The company would essentially have to want to take legal action against itself.
However at ALPA they have the means to do that when there is a big issue. And you do have legal protection in the case of wrongful termination and other situations where you may need it.
As far as knowing the policy manual, when something arises we can refer to our policy manual which every employee has access to. But like I said, when crew support tells you one thing, and yet the policy manual clearly states the opposite, you are still forced to bend over.