SpiceJet delays salaries for second straight month, funds made in ‘graded format’

SpiceJet workers on Wednesday alleged delay within the disbursal of salaries for the second straight month, with the funds airline saying the funds had been being made in a “graded format”.

There was a delay in disbursal of wage for workers, together with flight crew, for the month of July and plenty of are but to get the Form 16 for the monetary 12 months 2021-22 as properly, SpiceJet workers claimed.

“The salary disbursal was timely for June. Also, the salaries are yet to match the pre-COVID-19 levels. The salaries being disbursed to captains and first officers are not even 50 per cent of what they used to be before the pandemic outbreak in March 2020,” an worker advised information company PTI.

However, SpiceJet claimed it has began wage disbursal in a “graded format”.

“We have started crediting salaries from today. Like the previous month, salary will be credited in a graded format,” the airline stated in a press release to PTI.

In an inner communication Wednesday, the SpiceJet’s Human Resources group knowledgeable workers concerning the delays citing that the “previous few months have been difficult” resulting from “superlative fuel price hike” and in addition “historically lean period of July-September”.

“We have started to see some green shoots of relief with reduction in fuel price effective August 1. Passenger demand is also expected to be strong as we enter our traditional strong season in end-September,” the communication learn.

“However there are few milestones to be reached as we tread these difficult times and overcome the impact of the adverse business environment as we move along. In view of the foregoing, the salaries for the month of August shall be released in a staggered manner starting end-August until mid of next month, as completed in the previous month,” it stated.

In the wake of the pandemic and continued irregularities in salaries, scores of pilots have left SpiceJet in current months. They included first officers in addition to captains of its Boeing 737 fleet.

“It was difficult to continue on a salary which was one-third of what I got three years ago. There were also provident fund- and tax-related discrepancies in our pay slips because of which many of us ended up paying more taxes even as the salaries we got did not merit those taxes,” a former SpiceJet pilot, a part of the post-COVID exodus, advised PTI.

The pilots and flight crew members have usually flagged stress points resulting from monetary irregularities.