Chinese airline ordered to pay $200K to Vancouver employee for wrongful dismissal

The China Southern Airlines logo is seen on a plane wing in this photo from the company's X account. (@CSAIRGlobal)

For the second time this year, a Chinese airline has been ordered to pay a former Vancouver employee more than $200,000 for wrongful dismissal.

In January, the B.C. Supreme Court ordered China Southern Airlines to pay $208,053 to a 71-year-old former employee named Paul Chu. The judge in the case found that the company had been "abusive, unfair (and) cruel" in its efforts to find cause for Chu's termination or to induce him to resign. 

On Wednesday, another judge expressed similar distaste for the airline's behaviour toward another wrongfully terminated employee, 57-year-old Zong Li Julie Zheng.

Justice Michael G. Thomas wrote that the company's treatment of Zheng "appears to be part of CSA’s ongoing process of terminating senior employees without notice," and awarded her a total of $208,832.75 in damages.

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE FIRING

Unlike in the Chu case, China Southern Airlines appears to have not filed a defence in the Zheng case. Thomas' decision on damages follows a default judgment against the company in Zheng's favour. 

According to the decision, Zheng moved from China to Canada with her family in 2002. She worked for Air China in Vancouver from 2004 to 2010, when she was recruited to join China Southern as the first employee in its Vancouver office.

In January 2018, the airline assigned a new general manager to the Vancouver branch, who began a "reorganization" of the office.

"In the reorganization, Ms. Zheng lost the accounts that she had developed, and (the new supervisor) instructed her to have no contact with her old accounts," Thomas' decision reads.

"She was required to obtain new clients. Her supervisory responsibilities ended and her role in sales and client development increased."

The airline cut Zheng's base salary, but she was able to earn it back – and more – by working overtime and recruiting new clients, according to the decision.

In January 2020, the company ordered her to attend a meeting with management, at which she was told she was under investigation and being placed on administrative leave. The reason for the investigation and leave was not explained to her.

The meeting left her "humiliated and shocked," according to Thomas. In the days that followed it, she would see her doctor and be placed on an urgent waitlist to see a psychiatrist. She would also continue receiving threatening communications from her employer.

"Ms. Zheng received a number of emails from CSA demanding the return of documents and threatening to search her home," the decision reads. "She continued to advise them that she did not have any of their documents."

When the company demanded that she attend a meeting on short notice to learn the results of the investigation, she told them she was ill and could not attend, providing a note from her doctor that said she should not work.

"CSA told Ms. Zheng that they had contacted her doctor and that the note only said that she had seen the doctor, not that she should not work (though this is clearly not what the note said)," Thomas' decision reads.

"CSA told Ms. Zheng if she did not come to the meeting, it would amount to her 'giving up (her) job.'"

She did not attend the meeting, and was fired two days later. Her termination letter said she had copied and sent out confidential company documents to third parties, according to the court decision. The airline would go on to make further demands that she return confidential documents and to accuse her of "financial irregularities."

When she saw a psychiatrist, Zheng was diagnosed with acute stress and PTSD symptoms from the sudden termination of her work.

"I find CSA’s investigation into Ms. Zheng’s conduct was a sham," Thomas' decision reads. "The determination that Ms. Zheng sent confidential information to third parties and was responsible for financial irregularities is unfounded."

DETERMINING THE AWARD

After her firing, Zheng looked for other work in the airline industry, particularly in her area of expertise – the Vancouver to China market.

"However, Ms. Zheng was unable to find any work," the decision reads.

"Travel agencies she had worked with while she was employed at CSA declined to provide her with letters of recommendation, and her inquiries about job opportunities were all declined. Ms. Zheng then discovered that CSA had communicated throughout the Vancouver travel industry that she had been fired."

Thomas described this behaviour as the airline "marr(ing) her reputation in a tight-knit industry without basis."

Zheng ended up retraining as a chef, and got a job as a pastry chef in February 2022. The judge's decision describes her job search and retraining as "commendable."

Taking this into account, along with Zheng's age, years of service to China Southern and the specificity of her job and expertise, Thomas determined that Zheng was entitled to a severance award equivalent to 20 months of pay.

At the time of her firing, Zheng was making $4,800 per month, meaning 20 months of pay would equate to $96,000.

Thomas also awarded her 20 months of her $55-per-month company-paid phone plan, for another $1,100, plus $1,666.67 for her annual $1,000 bonus pro-rated for 20 months. He also added $66.08 in special damages as compensation for software Zheng had to purchase as part of her employment.

That works out to a total of $98,832.75 in severance compensation.

The judge also awarded $35,000 in aggravated damages for the airline's breach of its duty of good faith and fair dealing in how it handled Zheng's firing.

"I find Ms. Zheng suffered from compensable depression and anxiety as a result of CSA’s breaches in the manner of her termination," the decision reads. "Ms. Zheng’s evidence, which I accept, is that she was humiliated and shocked following her termination. CSA’s conduct caused her to experience anxiety, have trouble eating and sleeping and suffer from suicidal thoughts. In light of her symptoms, her doctor prescribed her with antidepressant medication."

Finally, Thomas awarded $75,000 in punitive damages, aimed at "denunciation, deterrence and retribution" for China Southern's conduct.

"CSA’s conduct was highly blameworthy," the judge wrote. "It was abusive, planned and deliberate."