It also alleges Hrdlicka announced the airline had consulted with the Australian Federation of Airline Pilots, which did not support its first officers. The union denied this claim by Hrdlicka.
Fitzgerald alleges he was approached by Chief Operating Officer Stuart Aggs, who testified that the CEO demanded Fitzgerald identify who he spoke to at the union. or Aggs would lose his job.
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In his statement, the former chief pilot also recalled a meeting with Hrdlicka where he allegedly accused him of not being good at communicating with more junior staff.
Fitzgerald alleges that when he replied that he had mentored hundreds of first officers during his career, Hrdlicka replied, “Oh come on Mike, no BS, you’re just like all the other senior flight operations managers with the which I had to deal with at Jetstar. ; you only care about the big boys.”
Fitzgerald also alleges he was held responsible for a $4 million cost blowout in Virgin’s 2020/21 Christmas-New Year flight schedule.
“to which the CEO herself had directed additional flights”.
The statement alleges that the incidents had a serious impact on Fitzgerald’s mental health.
“As a result of the aforementioned acts of workplace harassment, [Mr Fitzgerald] he felt undervalued and lost all self-esteem. He suffered from depression and anxiety,” the document said.
Fitzgerald took stress leave in July 2021 after being told he would be placed in a performance management program. He alleges that Aggs told him in October 2021 that Hrdlicka had lost trust in him and that he should move on. He received redundancy options via text a week later. He was fired on March 1.
A Virgin spokesman said Fitzgerald’s employment was terminated following a series of independent assessments of his fitness for work.
“He was treated fairly and was not bullied,” the spokesman said.
“We will vigorously defend the matter.”
The statement of claim was filed in Federal Circuit Court. The matter will go to mediation in November before a hearing in December.
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