EasyJet Cabin Manager Sacked After Using Tannoy For ‘Sexual Comedy Routine’

An EasyJet cabin manager has been sacked for gross misconduct after using the tannoy for sexual comedy routines during safety briefings. What, are you not supposed to do that?

Ross Barr, 48, would also make ‘inappropriate comments’ about female colleagues over the tannoy and in person, and had been given a final warning over his behaviour after complaints from passengers and fellow cabin crew.

However, he couldn’t stop doing it and so was eventually sacked.

Among the comments Barr made:

• Called his team ‘lovely ladies’ over the tannoy
• Told a colleague: ‘Oh, I’ve just brushed past your boobs’
• Said to another: ‘I’m not doing anything… I’m just staring at your ass’
• Told a colleague packing her bag: ‘Having a problem trying to stuff it in? Bet you’ve never had that problem’
• Referred to a flight attendant as his ‘much more attractive colleague’

Well, a couple of those don’t sound too bad, but most of them are definitely not things you should be saying to female colleagues in a professional environment, and anyone with a brain knows that.

One of his colleagues had also said Barr spent an ‘entire shift’ making sexual remarks. He confessed to her that he had previously been suspended for his comments, and said: ‘All I said was that her tits would get bigger if she got pregnant, and guess what? They did.’

Barr insists that his comments are all just ‘flirty banter’ and even claims he’s being discriminated against because he’s straight.

He reckons that his banter would have been accepted if it was by ‘a gay man’, which isn’t a bad shout actually. Maybe it would be tolerated a little more, but I think ultimately people would have complained about that too if they felt it was inappropriate.

Employment judge Muriel Robinson rejected Barr’s view, saying: ‘This is not the first time you have been in this situation with regard to your conduct and comments made to female crew members.

‘You raised that you were treated differently compared to others under similar circumstances due to your protected characteristics.

‘My investigation did not uncover any evidence to substantiate this claim.’

At the end of the day, even if he didn’t personally think there was anything wrong with that kind of flirty banter, you still need to stop when a colleague tells you they don’t like it. And you definitely need to stop when you’re given a final warning about it from your bosses. Seems they all thought he was a bit of a creep and they’d simply had enough. Fair enough really.

For the EasyJet passenger who had an all-time meltdown after being refused entry onto a flight from Manchester to Ibiza, click HERE. What a baby.