Airline director fired for fat-shaming rival’s staff

Prague: Embraer ERJ-175 of LOT lands to PRG Airport in Prague on July 29, 2017. LOT is flag carrier of Poland.

An operations director for a European airline is out of the job after allegedly fat-shaming and posting photographs of British Airways staff on social media.

According to multiple media reports, Katarzyna Richter, operations director at LOT Polish Airlines, has been sacked by the carrier after she made unprofessional remarks on social media about the appearance of British Airways staff.

Richter reportedly took multiple photos of BA crew members during a recent flight from Gatwick to Poland, which she shared on social media criticising them for their appearance.

“Today, my attention was drawn to grooming and appearance of British Airways cabin crew members, unpolished shoes, holes in tights, too tight uniform, double chin, rotten and uneven teeth, messy hairstyle,” Richter wrote in a translation of her post on Facebook.

She also suggested that the staff were not carrying out their duties properly.

In a statement obtained by Metro, a LOT spokesperson said: “We are truly sorry for the situation.

“The comments published by one of our employees on the private Facebook profile are contrary to the applicable standards and the value system adopted at LOT Polish Airlines.

“Such behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by our company. Therefore, we decided to terminate the co-operation with Mrs Richter with immediate effect.

“Furthermore, we ensure that this situation will never happen again by drawing even more attention to the notification of social media policy and applicable procedures to our employees.

“The importance of social media policy shall be once again underlined during upcoming trainings which our employees undergo on a regular basis.”

Richter later apologised and said she regrets her behaviour.

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