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United Airlines pilot accused of posting explicit photos of flight attendant

A lawsuit filed Thursday accused the international airline of creating a hostile work environment.
Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
United Airlines jets sit at gates at O'Hare International Airport on September 19, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois.

SAN ANTONIO — A captain with United Airlines allegedly posted sexually explicit images of a female flight attendant to various websites, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The lawsuit claims the airline violated federal law by subjecting a female flight attendant to a hostile work environment of sexual harassment over a multi-year period. The pilot allegedly made reference to the flight attendant’s name, home airport, and sometimes referencing the airline’s tagline “Fly the Friendly Skies” in the explicit posts.

According to the lawsuit, the flight attendant’s co-workers saw the posts and United failed to take action after she complained to the company.

The lawsuit asks the court to order United to provide the flight attendant with compensatory and punitive damages, as well as to order the company from engaging in future practices that discriminate based on gender.

“Employers have an obligation to take steps to stop sexual harassment in the workplace when they learn it is occurring through cyber-bullying via the internet and social media,” said Philip Moss, a trial attorney in the EEOC’s San Antonio Field Office. “When employers fail to take action, they fail their workers and enable the harassment to continue.”

“United was aware of the intimate details of how its pilot was harassing its flight attendant but took no responsibility to put a stop to it. As a result, over a period of many years, the flight attendant had to work every day in fear of humiliation if a co-worker or customer recognized her from the pilot’s postings. This is unacceptable, and the EEOC is here to fight such misconduct,” EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Eduardo Juarez said.

This is a developing story. Please check back soon for updates.

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