SAN ANTONIO — The federal government is suing United Airlines, alleging sexual harassment of a female flight attendant by a male pilot who posted sexually explicit images of the attendant on various websites.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is alleging a United captain posted the sexually explicit images of the flight attendant and made reference to her name, home airport and sometimes using the tagline "Fly the Friendly Skies."
According to the EEOC lawsuit, the posts were seen by United co-workers causing the flight attendant's work environment to be adversely affected. Despite numerous complaints by the flight attendant, United did not correct the pilot's behavior, the EEOC said.
"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," EEOC San Antonio Field Office trial attorney Philip Moss said in a statement. "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," added EEOC supervisory trial attorney Eduardo Juarez.
The EEOC requests a court order for United to create and implement policies to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.