A Virgin Atlantic pilot is suing the airline for £1.7 million (US$2.09 million) after he was forced out of his job unfairly following rumors that he had taken a 40-minute nap. The 48-year-old airline captain who lives near Brighton in Sussex says that Virgin Atlantic took action against him based solely on hearsay and is now seeking compensation.

The claim stems from a 2015 long-haul flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).

During the 11 hours 50 minute flight, both of Captain Lawson’s co-pilots fell ill, and with eight hours still to go, the seasoned pilot decided to continue the flight alone. Eventually one of the co-pilots recovered in time to help land the aircraft safely in the East Asian semi-autonomous territory.

Virgin Atlantic never wrote an incident report

After the flight, rumors started circulating amongst Virgin staff that suggested that captain Lawson had taken a 40-minute nap while both of the other pilots were not on the flight deck.

Despite the talk of Lawson taking a nap, Virgin Atlantic never wrote up an incident report which Lawson claims stopped him from being able to quash the rumors.

Eventually, the UK airline fired Lawson in May of 2017 citing his failure to pass two flight simulator tests as the reason for his dismissal. Lawson claims that the assessor conducting the tests was overly aggressive towards him because of the Hong Kong flight rumors and the subsequent stance of the airline.

Captain Lawson is also suing for disability discrimination claiming that he was mentally unwell at the time of the tests due to anxiety and stress.

A new judge is now looking at the case

The disability claim was thrown out of court last January by an employment tribunal but was reinstated by Judge Matthew Gullick after having read the details of the lawsuit.

While reporting on the proceedings, the Daily Mail newspaper quotes Judge Gullick in saying:

“Mr. Lawson decided to continue the flight instead of landing en route and landed the plane safely in Hong Kong,” said the judge. “Such rumors were not true, but his colleagues were reluctant to work with him.”

Virgin Atlantic looked into the events during the flight, and Mr. Lawson says he started suffering from anxiety and stress shortly thereafter, the judge said.

Captain Lawson was “blocked” by flight duties between October and November of 2015, but “was not told that he had done something wrong and was not subject to restrictions.”

Captain Lawson felt ostracized

However, his employer never published a report on their investigation, leaving him distraught by anxiety because “he felt he could not defend himself from the rumors.” The judge went on to say the following:

“He says he feels stressed and anxious when he learned of the rumors that were often raised, especially at a meeting on October 13, 2015, when he was asked if he had winked while the FO [flight officers] were off the flight deck.”

“It describes the feeling of being ostracized by his colleagues and becoming increasingly isolated, feeling that his colleagues were avoiding talking to him, fearing any association with him...He felt that in conversations with his flight crew he was criticized, which made him doubt that he was making the right decisions. He said he feared going to work knowing that his Hong Kong flight would be brought by colleagues.”

Captain Lawson is now working for another airline and is waiting to hear when the case will be returned to the labor court.

Do you have an opinion on this case? Was Captain Lawson wrongfully terminated? Let us know in the comments.