A female employee of SriLankan Airlines (SLA) had been transferred to the an overseas position in 2011 without following the due procedures, including the HR Manual of the company, it was revealed yesterday.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lankan Catering and Mihin Lanka also learnt that she had been appointed based on the direction of then Chairman Nishantha Wickremesinghe.
The employee, Shehani Dilusha Rodrigo had been working at SLA since 2005 on contractual basis as a Flight Attendant and was appointed as a Flight Steward in 2007. In 2008, she was made permanent as a Flight Attendant in Grade C2 and was promoted to Senior Flight Attendant in Grade C3 the following year.
However, the afore mentioned controversial appointment was made on June 09, 2011 transferring her to the Airport Services Delivery office in Singapore.
SriLankan Airlines Manager of HR Operations and Administration Lasantha Liyanage testified before the Commission yesterday.
Shehani Rodrigo, who was under the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), in May 2011 had asked for a one-year period of no pay leave on compassionate grounds from then Chairman directly via e-mail bypassing even the HR Division. In response to her request, Chairman Wickremesinghe in June, 2011 had directed the CMO, S.Jeyaseelan to grant her the no pay leave as requested and also to transfer her to the Airport Services Delivery office in Singapore.
According to the witness, the normal process of such transfers is that the company requests the employee who was selected for the overseas appointment to apply for no pay leave and then give the appointment.
“This is to prevent the duplication of payment,” he said. But, in this case, there is no such request from the company and referring to her personal file in the company, the witness told that there are no justifications for her transfer as well.
He said that he couldn’t find documentary evidence on the interviews conducted to select her for this post. This appointment had been made by his department on the instructions given by then Company Secretary and the CMO.
There had been no communication with the Board of Directors regarding this appointment, it was revealed. She was appointed to the post of Commercial Support Officer of Grade V for a period of one year from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012.
When asked by the State Counsel whether she had sufficient educational qualifications on Sales and Marketing to work at that overseas office, the witness said that she had no such qualifications but, the educational qualifications she possessed at that time were enough to deal with it as it was just a supporting job.
However, with the conclusion of the contract period in 2012, the SLA had appointed her to another position in Dubai till 2013.
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