Twenty-one flight attendants, who sued their employer after they were suspended from normal in-air work for 14 months due to the financial crisis, will get a total of 1 million yuan in compensation, Shunyi district court announced.

Li Jian, the judge of No 1 civil tribunal of Shunyi district court, told METRO on Tuesday that 28-year-old Liu Jia, one of the 21 flight attendants, had an effective two-year contract with Xinhua Airlines in 2008 and had always performed well in her work.

Many of the other flight attendants also signed contracts with the company between 2007 and 2009, and evaluations of their performances also ranked high among flight staff, the court found out.

In September 2008, under pressure during the global financial crisis and with the cost of crude oil soaring, Xinhua Airlines forcefully changed its evaluation standards without legal basis.

The 21 women were identified as unqualified and the company asked them to attend full-time training instead of assigning them to flights.

During the "training" period, their salaries were reduced from 10,000 yuan to 1,000 yuan, Li said.

In December 2009, they sued Xinhua in Shunyi district court, each seeking 126,000 yuan in compensation for the period between October 2008 and December 2009.

The attendants also asked for 25 percent of the salary differential as economic compensation.

Liu told the court the company took their work permits and they were kept in the dark about their evaluations.

She also said they were not told about the criteria and results.

According to Li, Liu said the company used the training as a way to save money.

"We didn't receive any formal relevant training programs, but stayed at home to study by ourselves," Liu said.

"Xinhua Airlines tried to avoid its responsibility and fulfill its obligation in respect to our labor rights."

The company told the court in its defense that in 2008, the aviation industry suffered from the impact of the global financial crisis and high oil prices and flight plans were adjusted as a result, Li said.

The company said it had the right to decide whether employees were needed and how to assess their work.

According to the company, flight work is high-risk and, in order to improve their overall quality and skill levels, they arranged for Liu and the other 20 flight attendants to attend the full-time training.

The company said the training was related to flight attendant work, Li said.

"During the training period, the company still paid their

basic salary of 1,000 yuan and paid the social insurance and housing fund for them but they did not get paid for flight hours," Li said.

The payment for flight hours usually accounted for 70 per cent of the income of the flight attendants.

Li said the issue was a labor dispute but the suitability of the flight attendants for their work will need to be checked by the China Aviation Administration Center.

He said Xinhua did not prove it had a legal basis to change the evaluations and ground the flight attendants, violating their labor rights.

But he said the attendants did not get all they asked for because they did not carry out the in-air work and should not be paid for it in full.

"Considering their basic

salary and previous performance evaluation, the court decided that each person should get between 4,000 yuan and 6,000 yuan in compensation for each month," Li said.