I'd say it's a highly tenous position legally too! Has anyone actually seen one of these contracts or is this yet more crewmour? One of the basic tenets of contract law is that the contract has to be fair to both parties. Should BA attempt to enforce a contract which allows them to lay people off, without pay, for 6 months but retain contractual control over them throughout it would be laughed out of the first court or tribunal it came to. Furthermore, how would BA attempt to get around the requirement to pay a legal minimum wage to it's employees? That is a fundamental right and cannot be signed away by contract. Until such time as somebody provides us with the actual text of the contract rather than some hearsay spread by BASSA acolytes who desperately want it to be true then I'm afraid that claim will warrant a high score on the BS scale.