Aer Lingus cabin crew member fails to overturn dismissal over pending drugs charge

Dublin Airport operator refused to reissue security pass following Garda vetting process

An Aer Lingus cabin crew member has failed to stop the airline terminating his employment after he was refused a security pass at Dublin Airport following a Garda vetting process.

DAA, the operator of Dublin Airport, had refused to reissue Lorcan Delaney with a security pass which airline staff require to enter restricted areas of the airport after the vetting process highlighted that he had a pending criminal prosecution for being in possession of a small quantity of cannabis and MDMA while attending a music concert at Slane Castle on June 8, 2019.

The High Court heard that Mr Delaney, who had worked with Aer Lingus since 2015, was placed on unpaid leave by the airline on December 11, 2019, as he no longer had a valid security pass and he was subsequently dismissed on February 21, 2020.

Mr Delaney of Castlefarm, Swords, Co Dublin, said he was “shocked and surprised” that he had been suspended immediately on the basis of a court summons.

Lawyers for Mr Delaney sought a number of interlocutory injunctions to restrain Aer Lingus from taking any steps to terminate his employment on the basis he had been suspended without being afforded fair procedures.

Aer Lingus claimed it had no option but to terminate Mr Delaney’s employment as it was a fundamental requirement of his contract of employment that he would obtain a security pass and it was not in a position to offer him an alternative role.

The airline said it was not required to justify the termination of Mr Delaney’s employment over his failure to obtain a security pass and that such a decision should be challenged under the Unfair Dismissals Acts.

In pleadings made last year before his court appearance, Mr Delaney said no reference to the drugs charge would appear during the Garda vetting process if he received the Probation Act and avoided a conviction.

He claimed other Aer Lingus staff who received court summonses for more serious offences were not dismissed.

Mr Delaney ultimately had the charge against him dismissed at a sitting of Trim District Court on May 26, 2020.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Senan Allen noted that Aer Lingus reminded all staff on a number of occasions in 2019 that their security passes were due to expire and that a failure to renew them would result in their removal from the roster and they would be put on unpaid leave until they obtained a new card.

The judge said:

The fact of the matter was that Mr Delaney was not in a position to carry out his duties.

Mr Justice Allen said it was not a strong argument to suggest Aer Lingus was obliged to intervene with DAA to persuade it to issue Mr Delaney with a security pass.

He said the plaintiff had not attempted to identify any legal obligation on Aer Lingus to determine whether the criminal charges he was facing were serious.

Mr Justice Allen said Mr Delaney had fallen well short of establishing there was a fair question to be tried for the injunctions he was seeking.

“The proposition that it was not a term of the plaintiff’s contract of employment as an air steward that should have a valid DAA Airport Identification Card which would allow him to get to his airplane is not, in my view, even arguable,” the judge said.

Mr Justice Allen said the case was “a cautionary tale of unforeseen consequences”.

The judge noted that Mr Delaney had found alternative employment since July 2020 and that it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that he was better off than on his Aer Lingus salary as the airline’s employees had their salaries reduced by up to 70% during periods of the Covid-19 pandemic.