File photo. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Thirty-three Air New Zealand employees are challenging the company's Covid-19 vaccination policy in the employment court.
A six-day hearing began in Auckland on Monday morning, with evidence from one of the plaintiffs, Airbus pilot Captain Leif Fredricsen.
Fredricsen declined to get the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in 2021, which he said led him being put on paid leave from 7 January 2022, and then unpaid leave from 17 February 2022.
Fredricsen since received the Novavax vaccine, and resumed work with Air New Zealand in April 2023.
He said he was hesitant to get the Pfizer vaccine in 2021 - the only vaccine available in New Zealand at the time - because he believed trying the first of any kind of product inevitably "comes with risks."
Fredricsen said he was concerned it had been developed in response to the Alpha variant, not the subsequent mutations, and that it didn't provide full immunity against the virus.
The pilot said the company's "hard line" vaccination policy was a "terrible surprise" and seemed to be more focused on business continuity and revenue than the health and safety of employees.
He claimed it was abundantly clear his employment contract would be terminated if he did not comply with the rules.
"It felt as if we did not comply, our livelihood would be taken forcibly from us," he said.
Counsel for Air New Zealand Peter Kiely challenged "that was not what happened", and pointed out that Fredricsen had not had his employment terminated.
Meanwhile, about a third of Air New Zealand's workforce lost their jobs in the pandemic by way of redundancy, including many pilots, Kiely said.
The hearing is set down for six days.
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