A Senior Who Worked At YVR Has Been Awarded More Than $200K & This Airline Has To Pay Up
His boss allegedly threw a computer mouse at him.
Vancouver International Airport.
B.C. senior and ex-YVR worker Paul Chu was awarded $208,053 in his case against China Southern Airlines (CSA).
Chu sued the state-controlled company back in 2019 for wrongful dismissal, and on January 5, 2023, the judge assessed the employer's behaviour as "profoundly harmful."
Having worked with CSA for a decade, Chu maintained an "impeccable" record as a marketing and business development manager until the airline's management changed in 2018, according to court documents. After that, Chu was demoted twice, ending up in a airport services role at YVR — and his pay cut by 25%.
In the time that followed, Chu claimed that CSA provided insincere warnings and unfair discipline, going so far as to embarrass him publicly.
Chu alleged that he was reprimanded and "humiliated" in front of coworkers on multiple occasions, recalling a specific incident where the general manager threw a computer mouse at him. Eventually, Chu was terminated with immediate effect on the grounds of incompetence and "time theft."
The judge found that this termination lacked sufficient reason or notice, ordering the airline to pay Chu $58,053, the equivalent of 20 months' wages.
On top of that, he was awarded $50,000 as compensation for mental distress and an additional $100,000 in punitive damages.
When he was fired, Chu was 68 years of age, and the court documents said he had great difficulty finding employment elsewhere (with the COVID-19 pandemic acting as an extra obstacle). The judge concluded "that there was no reasonably comparable employment available" to him.
Now 71 years old, Chu is employed as a driver for DoorDash.
Narcity has reached out to China Southern Airlines, and they did not respond in time for publication. We will update this article when we hear back.