LOS ANGELES (CNS) – After shuttling back and forth between state and
federal court for 16 months, a lawsuit by two longtime United Airlines flight
attendants accusing the company of favoring youthful white female flight
attendants on its charter flights for the Los Angeles Dodgers will have its
first proceeding in state court next month.
The suit, originally filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in October
2023 by Darby Quezada and Dawn Todd, alleges that United engaged in
discrimination by removing the only minority female flight attendants from the
Dodgers charter flights and replacing them — at the Dodgers’ request — with
“young white thin women who did not have to interview for the highly coveted
positions.”
United twice removed the case to federal court on jurisdictional
grounds, but each time a federal judge sent the case back to Superior Court. On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gail Killefer scheduled a case
management conference for March 18.
The flight attendants also allege that white United employees engaged
in blatant racism, discrimination, and antisemitism toward minority flight
attendants on the Dodgers charter flights.
United spokesman Charles Hobart said in a previous statement that the
airline “fosters an environment of inclusion and does not tolerate
discrimination of any kind. We believe this lawsuit is without merit and intend
to defend ourselves vigorously.”
The Dodgers are not a defendant in the suit, and the team has declined
to comment on it.
Quezada, who is of Mexican, Black and Jewish descent, claims she was
called the “flight’s maid” because they needed “a Mexican to clean the
bathrooms,” was told to stop speaking Spanish with a Dodgers 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 suit alleges.
Todd, a Black flight attendant with over 17 years of experience at the
airline, alleges she suffered retaliation after complaining about the
demotion of Black flight attendants, the denial of benefits and perks to Black
flight attendants on the Dodgers flights, and the racism and ageism she
allegedly experienced herself.
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