TTALPA , The Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots Association is asking the management of Caribbean Airlines to stop harassing doctors who gave sick leave documents to pilots last weekend. TTALPA has written to Caribbean Airlines (CAL) asking that they immediately desist from harassing doctors and putting pilots under undue pressure.
TTALPA wrote to Caribbean Airlines’ vice-president, Human Resources, Roger Berkeley, on August 23, noting that pilots who received certified medical sick leave reported that their doctors were contacted by CAL representatives. TTALPA said the doctors advised them that they may be subpoenaed before the Industrial Court for questioning, in respect of the legitimacy of medical sick leave certificates they issued to pilots.
The pilots said this is not only harassment but can be construed as intimidatory to its members. TTALPA strongly urged CAL to immediately desist from harassing the medical professionals who issued sick leave certificates as that has resulted in them calling pilots to advise them that the validity of their professional diagnosis is being called into question.
The pilot body said that this is not only a source of embarrassment to pilots but an “intimidatory tactic”, which can only further exacerbate an already sensitive situation and place undue pressure on pilots to operate when they are genuinely ill.
The pilots have complied with the interim order of the Industrial Court made on August 21, which instructed all pilots to return to their rostered work and not call in sick en masse.
TTALPA reminded that pilots are bound by Civil Aviation laws and regulations, which states that a person shall not operate an aircraft in a negligent or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property.
It noted that any deviation from this responsibility on the pilots’ part can be considered by the regulatory body to be negligent or reckless operations of aircraft.