British Airways is to fight former staff battling to recoup money from the airline’s pensions fund after the first of the cases to come to court was judged in the employee’s favour.
The airline was this week ordered to pay retired captain Ian Fullerlove £1,200 to settle his claim brought as part of a two-and-a-half year battle over payouts from company’s Airways Pensions Scheme (APS), the Daily Telegraph reported.
Fullerlove is the first of around 50 claimants that Captain Mike Post, a former trustee of the APS, says will challenge BA in the small claims court in the “first wave” of complaints over the next three months.
But BA is now applying to have Fullerlove’s claim set aside, and said it “will defend that claim alongside all other claims”.
A spokesman for the airline told the newspaper: “British Airways hasn’t settled any of the claims, and will continue to contest them all.”
The pensions dispute dates back to 2011, when BA switched the APS index-linked pension fund from the retail prices index (RPI) to the lower consumer prices index.
The change has left APS members worse off by about £1,000 a year. Captain Post said: “We hope the RPI increases that BA promised in 1984 are honoured.”