United again flies low in flight attendant’s harassment suit
Exactly how relentlessly clueless is United Airlines?
Not 18 months after the flyer of the friendly skies defended the violent removal of a passenger for not giving up his seat to an airline employee, United had the chance to do right by a flight attendant whose pilot ex-boyfriend stalked her and posted revenge porn on the internet. But United blew it.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against United last week in San Antonio seeking damages for the attendant, who is identified as Jane Doe to protect her privacy. Here are the facts, according to court records.
Mark Uhlenbrock, a United captain in command of flight crews, was dating Doe in 2006 and took nude and provocative photos and videos of her. One day, a United gate agent told Doe he’d found the photos on a website and that he thought he’d been messaging with her because someone claiming to be
her had emailed him more images.
Doe realized that Uhlenbrock was circulating her private photos, which she intended only for him. Uhlenbrock refused to stop posting them, so Doe broke up with him.
“Over the next decade, Uhlenbrock continued to regularly post sexually explicit photos, videos and stories about Ms. Doe on the internet,” the federal complaint alleges. “Ms. Doe came to learn that these images had been viewed by at least two of her United Airlines coworkers and were presumably accessible to tens of thousands of United Airlines personnel and coworkers, along with countless other people in the U.S. and around the world.”
Uhlenbrock included Doe’s name, address, employer and home base in San Antonio with the images. He declared she was a “new reason to ‘Fly the Friendly Skies.’” He clearly intended to hurt her reputation at United
and damage her ability to continue working in commercial aviation.
Doe filed three state lawsuits between 2009 and 2010, with judges ordering Uhlenbrock to stop posting the images. Despite paying significant damages, he kept doing it.
In 2011, Doe informed United’s In-Flight Base Operations Manager and an In-Flight Supervisor of Uhlenbrock’s behavior and the court orders. She produced copies of the posts, including semi-nude images of her in a United uniform. She provided sworn testimony where Uhlenbrock admitted what he’d done.
A reasonable person might conclude that Uhlenbrock’s behavior, including his contempt for court orders, might call into question his judgment while flying a valuable aircraft with hundreds of people on board. A reasonable manager might have a problem with a
supervisor sexually harassing a subordinate while off-duty and damaging the airline’s brand by showing her partially unclothed in a United uniform and employing the company’s motto with sexual innuendo.
United Airlines managers, though, said that what Uhlenbrock does on his own time is his business. In fact, Uhlenbrock’s chief pilot, James Simons, provided a letter of reference in 2012 for Uhlenbrock stating that he did not have any “flight related or training issues that have required discipline, counseling, or extra training.”
United left it to Doe to figure out how to avoid flying with Uhlenbrock by signing up for flights she believed he didn’t want to fly. In 2013, a United attendant showed Doe new posts, from Uhlenbrock’s IP address, that included her old images. Doe and her attorney complained again, but with the same result.
Doe went on medical leave in April 2015 and the FBI arrested Uhlenbrock for stalking her a month
later. Managers at United questioned him but decided to keep him in the cockpit.
When Uhlenbrock confessed and pleaded guilty, accepting a 41-month prison sentence, United placed him on long-term disability. When he reported to prison, United allowed him to retire with full benefits.
Does United Airlines finally recognize how badly it handled this case? Is the CEO promising to do better in the future? No.
“We have reviewed the allegations in the complaint and disagree with (the) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s description of the situation,” United spokesman Charles Hobart told my colleague Patrick Danner in an email. “United does not tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace and will vigorously defend against this case.”
None of the key facts is in dispute. Uhlenbrock harassed Doe, Doe complained, several judges agreed and United refused to act. Before filing suit, the commission gave United a chance to settle with Doe and commit to behaving better. Instead the airline chooses to fight.
In a #MeToo world, this should be a slam-dunk case. United needs to issue an apology and reach a settlement or risk another scar on an already bad reputation. The company’s employees, and shareholders, deserve better.