EVA fined over problem passenger issue

Staff writer, with CNA





EVA Airways was fined NT$400,000 by the Taoyuan City Government on Friday for failing to protect its employees from harassment following a case six months ago in which a passenger demanded that a flight attendant wipe his backside.

An EVA Airways spokesperson confirmed that the company had received a copy of the order from the Taoyuan Department of Labor and said it would decide whether to appeal.

The fine was triggered by an incident onboard an EVA Airways flight from Los Angeles to Taipei in January when a man estimated to weigh more than 180kg asked flight attendants to help him remove his underwear while in the toilet and then demanded that they clean his behind after he finished.

Although EVA Airways investigated the incident, it did not carry out concrete preventive and corrective measures as it had indicated it would in a report, the department said.

It was difficult to affirm whether EVA Airways took appropriate preventive steps to create a friendlier work environment, free from sexual harassment, the department said, adding that the airline had contravened the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法).