A former flight attendant at Delta Air Lines has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging he was fired in retaliation for supporting a unionization effort and for speaking out after enduring “sexually assaultive touching” during training.
Aryasp Nejat was fired by Delta in August. In a complaint filed late last month, his attorneys argued he is “one of the latest casualties” of an anti-union campaign waged by the airline.
“Delta themselves, through their own policies, encourage an open door policy. They encourage employees to bring up concerns,” Nejat, 24, told the Guardian. “They explicitly say that they don’t tolerate Discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and they want us to engage in constructive dialogue.
“But then, when I made my comments in protest of their anti-union campaign, in protest of the harassment that I and another flight attendant suffered, the company retaliated against me.”
A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines said: “Delta does not tolerate retaliation or harassment of any kind.”
Multiple labor unions including the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the Teamsters, announced a bid two years ago to unionize non-union employees at Delta Airlines. Currently the airline only has a union representing pilots at the company and a union representing dispatchers, unlike other major airlines, where most workers are predominantly union represented.
Delta has faced calls from Congress to remain neutral in the face of such campaigns. It has not.
The lawsuit alleges Delta Air Lines engaged in an anti-union campaign during Nejat’s initial flight attendant training, between May and June of last year. At his graduation ceremony, the lawsuit alleges that a Delta flight attendant, Matthew Miller, spoke to Nejat and other graduates, telling them “that if they wanted a good working environment, they should not sign a union card”.
Miller was a proponent of Delta Air Lines’ anti-union campaign, One Delta, according to the complaint, which alleges he selects flight attendants to be included in safety and training videos, which come with extra pay and promotion pathways in the company.
The anti-union messaging during training was “overwhelming”, according to Nejat. “I think it was really telling that Delta is investing a lot of resources, money, time and effort into preventing a union organization campaign.”
While performing a uniform inspection on new flight attendant graduates at the ceremony, the lawsuit accuses Miller of inappropriately touching trainees.
“During that inspection, Miller engaged in non-consensual, sexually assaultive touching of Nejat with Miller’s hands reaching inside Nejat’s pants close to his genitals and then moving to underneath Nejat’s vest and against Nejat’s chest,” it says. “The experience made Nejat feel violated, uncomfortable, and anxious.”
Miller did the same thing to at least one other male flight attendant, who relayed the experiences to Nejat, according to the lawsuit, which adds: “On information and belief, several male flight attendants have experienced similar treatment at the hands of Miller.”
Miller did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Delta did not comment, beyond stating that it does not tolerate retaliation or harassment.
“It was a very chilling moment,” Nejat of the alleged incident during his training graduation ceremony. “It made me realize that at that time, and to this day, that there are very strict power dynamics within the culture at Delta. These power dynamics involve unfair work practices. They involve power plays. They involve this kind of unfair power dynamic, and with no union to mediate that sort of power dynamic that exists.”
Nejat did not immediately report the incident with Miller due to Miller’s closeness with Delta Air Lines management, according to the lawsuit, but mentioned it on social media and in internal company posts while advocating for a union at the airline. He claims to have been initially suspended without pay for making two anti-harassment, pro-union posts, but was told his sexual harassment allegation against Miller would be investigated. After an initial interview, however, he says there was no follow-up.
“Delta has never offered Nejat any explanation of the reasons for its suspension and eventual termination of him, other than its intolerance for his pro-union, anti-sexual- harassment posts,” the lawsuit claims. Miller was permitted to continue working at Delta Air Lines, it alleges.
Executives at Delta appeared to have “terminated an employee who reported sexual harassment instead of holding the alleged perpetrator accountable”, said the airline’s Association of Flight Attendants. “Flight Attendants shouldn’t have to be afraid to go to work and face sexual harassment.”
The airline’s conduct is “by all means not right”, said Nejat. “It’s unjust, and it needs to be called out for what it is. On behalf of everyone who has and in the past and in the current has stories of sexual harassment, not only at Delta, but across the airline industry, in other industries, I think it’s really important to speak out, because it demonstrates the power of speaking out.
“And once people see someone take that first step, then they feel more comfortable sharing their stories and experiences.”
