- A Bloomberg report states that two of United’s experienced flight attendants are suing for discrimination based on their physical characteristics.
- The flight attendants, identified by Bloomberg as Black Women and a Jewish woman, both of whom worked at the United for more than 28 years, said they would not be able to work on charter flights because they were not on the “favorites” list.
- According to Bloomberg, young, white, inexperienced blonde flight attendants will be able to work on flights in a pattern that evaluates employees “entirely on the basis of their racial and physical qualities and the perceptual notions of sexual temptation.”
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The lawsuit against United Airlines claims that the airlines employ professional team charter flights with blonde crew members and restrict flight attendants who do not fall into this category due to the opportunity to work on the aircraft, a Bloomberg report said.
According to Bloomberg, the lawsuit was filed by two Pew flight attendants, a black woman who has worked at United for 28 years and a Jewish woman who has been with the airline for 34 years. In the lawsuit, he says charter flights for teams from the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Collegiate Athletic Association were frequently unable to operate.
Sharon Tesler and Kim Gilory said in the complaint that they were notified that they would not be able to work this shift because they were not on the “favorites” list, Bloomberg reports.
According to Bloomberg, the complaint states that young, white and inexperienced blonde flight attendants will be able to operate flights in a pattern that evaluates employees “entirely on the basis of their ethnic and physical qualities, and stereotypical notions of sexual seduction.”
United did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Business Insider previously stated that flight attendants historically have been the subject of widespread sexuality in advertisements, flight attendant dress codes, and employee weight controls. Before attendants became the main group to champion the feminist movement in the late 1960s, fierce competition among airlines forced companies to announce attractive workers in tight suits.
Before airlines were asked to change the rules by a federal court decision in 1970, flight attendants could be denied being married or pregnant. Eventually, the industry welcomed male employees and stopped calling workers “stewards.”
