The High Court has affirmed an Employment Tribunal decision instructing Villa Air to compensate an employee with six months’ salary after their termination due to sexual harassment claims.

The matter involves the termination of a Ground Operations Assistant at Villa Air on March 8, 2023, after claims arose that he sexually harassed a female coworker at the Male' Lounge.

The Employment Tribunal had earlier concluded that the termination was unfair both in substance and procedure. Consequently, Villa Air was required to compensate the former employee with six months’ salary, totaling MVR 10,200 per month. Villa Air, unhappy with the outcome, challenged the case in the High Court, which eventually affirmed the decision in favor of the previous employee.

The presiding judges concluded that no legal basis existed to reverse the Tribunal's ruling. One of the main conclusions in the High Court ruling was that the evidence found in the company's investigative report lacked sufficiency to prove the claimed sexual harassment to the civil standard of proof. The court also highlighted that even though the employee had been warned before, those records would only justify termination if the claims in this case had been proven, which the court determined had not happened.

The High Court judges determined that Villa Air did not adhere to the procedural fairness standards during the termination process.

The decision confirming the Employment Tribunal's ruling by Judge Huzaifa Mohamed, who presided over the case, received unanimous support from Judge Abdulla Jameel Moosa and Judge Ismail Shafeeu on the panel.