Female flight attendants for Qatar Airways must seek permission from airline before marrying, says report

A report released by the International Transport Workers’ Federation claims the airline requires female flight attendants to seek permission from the airline before getting married. (Reuters)

Qatar Airways is being criticized for claims that it requires its female workers to seek permission from the company when they decide to get married.

According to Al Arabia English, the International Transport Workers’ Federation released a report Tuesday to the Canadian-based International Civil Aviation Organization stating that the airline also mandates that women tell a supervisor if they become pregnant -- and could face termination if they fail to do so.

According to the ITF, a standard hiring contract for the airline’s female workers reads: “You are required to obtain prior permission from the company, in case you wish to change your marital status and get married.

“The employee shall notify the employer in case of pregnancy from the date of her knowledge of its occurrence. The employer shall have the right to terminate the contract of employment from the date of notification of the pregnancy. Failure of employee to notify the employer or the concealment of the occurrence shall be considered a breach of contract.”

The report notes that many of the airline's female employees are non-Qatari nationals and "rely on obtaining temporary work visas under a sponsorship programme."

“We would expect that the airline will try to paint a picture of their operations and say [that the allegations] are essentially not the truth,” International Trade Union Confederation general secretary Sharan Burrow told Al Arabiya English on Wednesday.

FoxNews.com reached out to Qatar Airways on Wednesday and has not yet received comment.