Unprecedented failure: Brazilian airline will have to pay for make-up and hair removal costs for its flight attendants

Flight attendants around the world have long struggled to get rid of the stringent dress standards required by various airlines. And in many cases, their claims have been resolved by the courts.

The last such case was experienced in Brazil. The justice of the neighboring country has ruled in a judgment that wearing makeup and hair removal is an expense that the Brazilian airline Gol must assume for its hostesses.

The company will have to pay for makeup, manicures and hair removal for its employees. It’s an expense that male airline staff don’t have, the judgment on a collective action promoted by the Public Ministry of Labor of the state of Santa Catarina, located in the south of the country and bordering Argentina.

The scope of the judgment

According to the court ruling, Gol must “provide all its employees, free of charge, with makeup set provided in your personal presentation code.

But not only that. Besides, must pay the various “cosmetic procedures for manicure, hair removal, eyebrows and bozo”, indicated the July 29 judgment and revealed this Thursday by local media.

For all this, the decree provides for the payment of a monthly sum of 220 reais or approximately $ 42 at current exchange rate.

What the airline said

The decision fell like a bucket of cold water on the Rio de Janeiro-based airline.

The director of the National Union of Aeronauts (SNA), Cláuver Castilho, estimated that the collective action includes “about 4,000 women”, including flight attendants, crew members and airport employees. But Gol opposed the union’s lawsuit and said during the trial that cosmetic care was not mandatory. In his opinion, these are only recommendations.

However, this position was not supported by the courts.

The labor court said the airline generated “gender discrimination and reduced wages for women“With regard to the man, according to the judgment, which includes compensation for collective moral damage of 500,000 reais (94,700 USD).

Consulted by AFPGol noted that he “does not comment on the lawsuits.” An appeal filed by the airline after the decision was ruled “inadmissible”.

Although the Brazilian labor justice has already handed down similar sentences against individual prosecutions, this is the first collective process.

“This decision may influence other sectors in which women are forced to wear makeup.. If it is consolidated before the courts, it will become jurisprudenceSays Castilho.