Virgin Australia Loses Appeal Over Unfair Dismissal Of Male Flight Attendant With Long Hair

A male flight attendant who was sacked by Virgin Australia has won the second time around against the company. The air carrier lost an appeal to stop David Taleski from getting his job back after it fired him in October 2011 for growing his hair longer than permitted.

Mr Taleski was fired by the airline in October 2011 after telling him to comply with the personal grooming manual of the company, "The Look Book," for 15 months.

He provided medical evidence to the Fair Work Commission to show that he was suffering from a body image disorder so he had to wear his hair long. He even wore wig during duty to solve the problem.

Mr Taleski presented five medical certificates that proved he was suffering from body dysmorphia disorder that related to the length of his hair. Virgin didn't accept that the certificates provided a diagnosis explaining his refusal to cut his hair.

According to The Age, he also met with senior airline management several times to tackle his hairstyle issue. And at one point, Virgin chief executive John Borghetti was even asked to intervene.

He filed an unfair dismissal case before the FWC, which lasted a year and involved two failed marathon conciliations and reams of evidence.

In January 2013, he was deemed the winner of the case, but Virgin appealed.

Unfortunately for the airline, FWC Senior Deputy President Jennifer Acton refused its appeal, saying that she wasn't convinced that there were any errors in the original decision.

"No significant errors of fact have been established and we do not consider it is in the public interest or otherwise to grant permission to appeal. We decline to grant Virgin permission to appeal n this matter," Ms Acton wrote in the judgment obtained by The Age.

His solicitor, Maurice Addison, said that Mr Taleski wasn't able to talk about the case publicly, but he was happy that Virgin was denied appeal.

"It's the correct result. Given the fact that Mr Taleski wasn't malicious in any way [in what he did]," the attorney said.

The flight attendant has been working in a call centre ever since he was fired from his job, but he now hopes to get back to work with Virgin.

"We look forward to him being back in the air next week. He loves flying, he wants to get back in the air. That's all he's ever wanted. He loves doing that job, and he's had a very good result."

A spokeswoman for Virgin said that the company is reviewing FWC's decision.