Scared of flying, mariner gets suspended and takes employers to tribunal

Joseph Dimech said that he was suspended from his job last month because he refused to travel by air for training in Italy.

His refusal to travel was backed by medical certification that he was suffering from aviophobia, which prevents him from travelling by air.

In a circular last August, the company informed all its masters that they were going to be sent for training in Genoa in September, but Dimech presented the company with a medical certificate from psychiatric consultant Anthony Dimech, declaring he (Dimech) was unfit to travel by air, but could travel by sea or land.

The company, however, insisted he should travel by air and issued his air tickets. Dimech refused to go and returned the tickets to company.

In his application before the Industrial Tribunal, master mariner Joseph Dimech argued that, according to law, an employer had the duty to alleviate the negative effects a job could have on his employees’ health.

He stressed that the action the company took against him was abusive and discriminatory.