The flight attendants also allege in their lawsuit that white United employees engaged in blatant racism, discrimination, and antisemitism towards minority flight attendants on the Dodgers charter flights.
Darby Quezada, who is of Mexican, Black, and Jewish descent, claims that she was called the “flight’s maid” because they needed “a Mexican to clean the bathrooms,” was told to stop speaking Spanish with a Dodger player because “we are in America,” and endured antisemitic comments such as “you know Jesus died for you even if you don’t believe” and “you don’t look Jewish.”
“The unrelenting racist and antisemitic comments were demoralizing and dehumanizing,” said Ms. Quezada. “Blatant discrimination like this should not be tolerated in 2023.”
Dawn Todd, a Black flight attendant with over 17 years of experience at the airline, alleges that she suffered retaliation after complaining about the demotion of Black flight attendants, the denial of benefits and perks to Black flight attendants on the Dodger flights, and the racism and ageism she experienced herself.
“It was extremely disappointing that United mistreated us in this way and then completely ignored our complaints,” said Ms. Todd.
“Major America corporations like United Airlines must understand that it is illegal to make staffing decisions based on an employee’s race and looks, even if it is meant to please major clients like the Los Angeles Dodgers,” said attorney Sam S. Yebri of Merino Yebri LLP. “United’s blatantly discriminatory staffing decisions allowed the cancer of racism and antisemitism to metastasize on the flights themselves.”
This lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed in 2020 that alleged that United discriminated against Black and Jewish flight attendants for its athletic teams’ charter flights by staffing them only with flight attendants who “fit a specific visual image,” namely “young, white, female, and predominately blond/blue-eyed” flight attendants.
The lawsuit, filed on October 25, 2023 in Los Angeles Superior Court, is captioned Quezada et. al. v. United Airlines, Inc., LASC Case No. 23STCV26112.
Media Contact
Sam S. Yebri, Esq., Merino Yebri LLP, 1 3105512015, [email protected], www.MYLAWLLP.com
SOURCE Merino Yebri LLP
