Ex-PIA workers denied raise by management

KARACHI: The issue of refusal of PIA to pay employees, who were asked to retire, on the basis of revised salaries was taken up in the Lahore High Court on Wednesday.

The twenty eight employees had filed a case with the Lahore High Court demanding that they be paid in accordance with a Supreme Court verdict. The prececent case was filed by S.M. Ismail and others against PIA and three-member bench was headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhary. PIA’s Managing Director Ejaz Haroon in a written statement filed in Lahore High Court before Justice Umar Ata Bandial has refused to pay the extra money despite a deal struck between both parties according to Malik Tariq Ali, one of the forcibly retired and the main plaintiff of the case against PIA.

PIA has already paid the each former employee sums ranging from Rs2.5 million to Rs10 million on January 2009, according to Ali. When PIA recently forced the employees to retire, it had not revised its pay packages and paid them their due in bulk according to the old packages. Management then revised salaries and these employees wanted more money, saying they are entitled to it as per a Supreme Court precedent which states, those given early retirement have to be treated like regular employees and all pay package revisions and perks apply.

These payments and severance packages depended on the time remaining to retirement. These people were retired on July 31, 2008. PIA would be required to pay these people more money and the company has refused to do so.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 27th, 2010.