THE Supreme Court has unanimously declared as unconstitutional a provision in the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between Philippines Airlines, Inc. (PAL) and the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) setting lower mandatory retirement age for female cabin attendants.
In a decision promulgated on January 10, 2023 but only made public yesterday, the Court en banc voided Section 144 (A) of the CBA pegging the compulsory retirement age of female cabin attendants at 55 years old and male cabin attendants at 60 years old for “lack of basis, (being) discriminatory to women, and being contrary to laws, international convention, and public policy.”
In finding merit in the 2019 petition filed by female cabin attendants of the air carrier, the High Court stressed the equality of women and men is guaranteed by the Constitution, the Labor Code, Magna Carta of Women and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The SC held that considering the constitutional guarantee of protection to labor and security of tenure, PAL failed to provide a reasonable basis for differentiating the compulsory retirement age based on sex.
“There is insufficient proof to support the conclusion that female cabin attendants between 55 to 59 years old did not have the necessary strength to open emergency doors, the agility to attend to passengers in cramped working conditions, and the stamina to withstand grueling flight schedules unlike their male counterparts,” part of the ruling penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said.
The petitioners, the SC said, were deprived of employment opportunity at an age “not young enough to seek for a new job but not old enough to be considered retired.”
“This deprived them of benefits attached to employment, such as income and medical benefits, five years earlier than their male counterparts, without factual basis, “the ruling added.
Aside from being contrary to the Constitution, laws and international convention, the SC said it also found out that the compulsory retirement provision in the CBA “was not voluntarily agreed upon” by petitioners.
Associate Justices Japar Dimaampao and Jhosep Lopez took no part in the proceedings while Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando was on wellness leave at the time the petition was tackled and voted upon by the en banc.
