Air India rolls out compensation package for kin of staffers who die of Covid-19

National carrier Air India on Monday announced a compensation package ranging from ₹90,000 to ₹10 lakh to the family or legal heir of its employees who succumb to

National carrier Air India on Monday announced a compensation package ranging from ₹90,000 to ₹10 lakh to the family or legal heir of its employees who succumb to Covid-19. While a permanent employee’s kin will receive ₹10 lakh, the airline will pay ₹5 lakh to the family of fixed-term employees hired directly by Air India. The family of casual employees who worked for upto a year for the airline will receive ₹90,000.

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The airline, however, clarified that the ad- hoc payment is applicable from April this year to March 31, 2021, and that the employees hired by any contractor or service provider will be paid an amount equivalent to the gross emoluments of two months of salary drawn by them, provided they have worked for a minimum continuous period of one year.

An internal letter (accessed by HT) to the executive directors of all the four regions (east, west, north and south) by the airline’s industrial relations department read, “In view of the prevalent Covid-19 outbreak, many employees are testing positive and some also succumbed to this pandemic. To safeguard the interest of the families, it had been decided to make an ad-hoc payment to the family/ legal heir of employees who die of Covid-19.”

According to airline sources, 16 Air India staffers died, while more than 200 employees, including 55 pilots, tested positive for Covid-19.