Contracts

[mainah]

At the company I work for they just asked us to review a contract they made for us pilots to sign. Myself and the other pilots feel unsure as to what to do as we have flown up to this point just flying and getting paid. The contract isn't saying you work here for so many years or this is what your salary is or we only pay for this or that. All it says it its our butts in a sling if something goes wrong. And things that we must do to maintain the aircraft and their operation. Is this normal? It feels real weird and we don't want to sign this without some conditions. Does anyone else have something like this at their job? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[knelson]

I have only flown for small (1-2 pilot) flight departments in the past, but I have never seen or heard of anything like this. I would be a little concerned about it. If it's for a smaller flight department, just ask the person that asked you to sign the contract what they are up to, and if it's a big department, you may just want to have an attorney look at it. It may cost you a couple hundred bucks, but it also may save you a lifetime's earnings. Just my humble couple 'o' pennies. Good luck and please keep us posted on what becomes of this.

Kevin

 

[rice]

Never Heard of such a Thing

Just my humble opinion but the first thing out of my mouth would be WTFO!!!!!
My guess is some "Bean Counter" figures this is "necessary" (justifying his existance probably) or something's up.
Either way one of the first Q's I'd have is, What's in the contract for me IF I sign it. Then again they could just come back with "your job".
Good luck!!! I'm interested to hear what happens.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

That contract seems real fishy to me. i have never heard of anything like that for corporate. I do know of an orginization that flys vintage aircraft that has something like that. They did it to relieve themselves of having to pay liability ins. it effectively transfers liability to the pilot. Thus making the pilot the one that would have to pay if anything goes wrong. Needless to say they don't have as many people wanting to fly their A/C anymore.

Like was stated above, get a lawyer to take a look at it.

If it transfers any liability to you in the slightest I would refuse to sign and go find another job. As knealson said, it may make you liable for so much money that your lifetime earnings couldn't pay for it.



Normally companies will back off on things like this. Mine mentioned a training contract to me. I told them no, that if they wanted to go with the pilot who would pay to fly their plane then feel free to hire him/her. If they wanted to keep me, someone that they know and trust, then it is with no strings attached. That was 2 years ago and I haven't heard anything about it since.

Just my opinion, I know jobs are thin right now, but I have limits to what I will do. I figure working at Home Depot beats some of this crap you see being pushed on pilots these days.

 

[mainah]

What confuses me the most about this is that up until now this has been a great job. Its a newer flight department at only 1.5 years old and the execs have been great. No complaining on cancelled flights and they are very safety conscious. Its very upsetting and I kind of wonder if its their attorney or if they concocted this themselves. Right now we're himhawing to avoid a conflict but we don't want to sign this contract.

 

[P3-Adub]

Sounds a little like sticker shock to me. Have they made noise about how much things are costing ? My guess is that your are flying a PC 12 for these folks, are they completly new to aircraft ownership ? Did the salesman sell them on an overly optimistic cost per hour ? I do know that a lot of execs do talk amongst themselves and they may have heard some negative feedback about pilots. Could also be an underutilized risk management dept. drumming up something useful ??? Good luck. Might ask for a guidline of expectations and areas that they view as liabilities for you guys. In a very respectful way of course. Just to clear up any misundrerstandings ???

 

[Astra Guy]

This contract business does sound a little strange. However, I will say that if you have an Ops Manual that is worth it's weight it probably does elude to the flight department's activities are in fact a contract with management. If the manual and SOPs are written well then it lays out specifics of what tasks will be performed when.

Written contract or not, if a pilot or anyone else screws up performing their duties then they are open to real litigation in the event someone is injured or killed.

The best defense is to realize that your flight department's activities can be defined and therefore raise the safety bar to the highest level possible. Take a look at IS-BAO. The criteria is closely related to ISO but tailored for professional flight departments.

Your situation may be underwriter driven. Regardless, everyone needs to realize that when someone trusts you with their life, it should be expected that you will perform in such a way that they have some sort of guarantee of arriving alive on each and every flight.