COMPANIES COULD FACE rising legal bills and have to pay damages to employees caught up in major events such as terrorist attacks, hurricanes and other natural disasters. The warning came from a leading European lawyer, Carla Potok, who specialises in the corporate travel sector, during a session on safety and security in corporate travel held by Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT). She said legal
cases across Europe were putting more responsibility on to companies for what happens to employees when they go on business trips. The increasing number of “man-made and natural catastrophes” around the world was leading to rising claims from business travellers,
with more courts ordering employers to pay them damages for their injuries or distress suffered. “It used to be the case
that the company had to exercise its best efforts to secure the security of its employees,” she added. “But that has changed: the employers’ obligation is no longer to make best efforts – the obligation is to ensure the security of its employees. “There was a
landmark ruling in France when 21 people were kidnapped from a hotel in the Philippines – three of them were French and travelling for work. They were awarded damages from their employer because it was ruled as a work- related incident.” Potok said the
situation for companies
was likely to get worse because governments, particularly in Europe, did not have funds to pay victims, so staff were taking action against their employers instead. She added that companies needed to protect themselves by “anticipating and not waiting until things happen”, including the drafting of preventative contracts whereby employees agree to acknowledge the risk they are taking if they are travelling to a more dangerous or unstable destination. CWT has signed a partnership agreement with security advisors Ijet International to create a new product for clients called CWT Safety & Security, which offers services, including tracking technology.
XXXXXXX AIRLINES
Luxembourg
EASYJET TO COMPETE ON BUSINESS ROUTE TO LUXEMBOURG
EASYJET IS TO LAUNCH its first route from Gatwick to Luxembourg alongside a raft of new routes for next winter.
PREMIUM AIR TRAVEL
TRANSATLANTIC BOOST FOR BUSINESS TRAVEL
OVERALL GLOBAL PREMIUM air travel grew by 6.3 per cent in February compared to the same month in 2011, according to IATA’s latest figures. The month’s traffic was boosted
18 1
by several factors, such as the extra day for the leap year, the effect of the Arab Spring uprisings in February 2011 and Chinese new year taking place in January this year. Transatlantic passenger numbers
rose by 2.4 per cent in February compared to the same month in 2011, and were also up by 2.1 per
cent overall for the first two months of the year. “Better economic results in the
US are supporting traffic across the North Atlantic as well as having positive impacts on trade partners, with revived demand for Asian consumer exports,” said IATA in its monthly Premium T
raffic Monitor. But premium travel within Europe
fell by 0.8 per cent in February and is down 0.1 per cent for the first two months of the year. “Economic weakness in the eurozone now also looks to be affecting premium traffic within Europe,” said IATA.
The no-frills airline will compete with British Airways and Luxair on routes between the south-east and Luxembourg when it begins four weekly flights from October 29. Easyjet said Luxembourg was a “key commercial centre” because it is European headquarters for major firms such as Amazon, Paypal, Skype and Exxon Mobil. Easyjet UK director Paul Simmons added:
"Luxembourg is a key addition to the winter schedule, which clearly demonstrates our commitment to providing a comprehensive range of key business routes – taking on the flag carriers, head on." The nine other new flights for winter 2012/13 include Gatwick to Tallinn, Isle of Man and Turin, Birmingham-Belfast, Bristol-Copenhagen, Manchester- Tel Aviv, Newcastle-Amsterdam and Southend to Geneva and Venice.
The unstoppable driving force in achieving goals is emotion
ACTE director Ron DiLeo unveils emotional engagement measurement system at ACTE’s San Francisco conference