Airport Contractor Settles Discrimination Suit

Dallas, TXOn March 11, 2008, Allied Aviation Services, a contractor that fuels airplanes and airports, agreed to pay $1.9 million in a discrimination lawsuit filed by 15 Hispanic and Black employees who were working at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The employees alleged that they had experienced harassment such as racial slurs and other derogatory treatment during their employment with the company.

Allied has admitted to no wrongdoing in the case, but has agreed to require all of their employees to undergo sensitivity and diversity training for the next three years. The result of the settlement was announced outside the Dallas office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at a news conference. The commission had filed the lawsuit on behalf of the workers after conducting its own investigation regarding the incidents at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport.

This settlement marks the largest national origin and race discrimination case that has ever been resolved by the EEOC Dallas office. Suzanne M. Anderson, the EEOC's lawyer said in a statement that the case was so repulsive because management ignored and did nothing about the harassment despite the workers' complaints.

Eric Mitchel, who is a former running back for the Dallas Cowboys, initiated the suit when he found five names of black employees on a bathroom wall. The list of names was under the title "hit list." His name was amongst that list. There was also a racial statement written with the names that was quite threatening.

Mitchel said during the EEOC's news conference that he had reported the incident to the airport's police, but was told by Allied's management that he could leave if he didn't like it. Mitchel said that after this, he had compared the work environment to that of a modern-day plantation.

Other employees claimed that there was a pattern of civil rights violations and discrimination. They allege that white employees frequently displayed Ku Klux Klan membership cards and drawings of nooses and swastikas were quite common. When boarding the shuttles to go to the airport to work, Hispanics say they were instructed to ride in the back of the bus.

Carl Gaines, an employee, discovered derogatory remarks and racial slurs on An American Airlines Jet's fuel panel that he was performing service on. However, what he found was that the statement referred to him specifically. A Hispanic employee, Francisco Ochoa, had a meeting with a supervisor to talk about the work conditions, only to find himself the subject of a racially offensive cartoon on display under the glass of the manager's desk, according to the lawsuit. Ochoa was hospitalized for two weeks because the mental anguish traumatized the former marine. Mr. Ochoa succumbed was unable to see the outcome of the settlement because he succumbed to cancer two years ago.

The legal work for the case actually began four years ago after Mitchel found the response to his complaint to Allied unacceptable. He hired lawyer James A. Vagnini to represent him, but soon there were seven other employees joining him in the lawsuit. Soon after, the number in the lawsuit grew to 15. Six of those involved in the suit still work for Allied at this time.

Since the investigation was completed by the EEOC, it had filed a lawsuit against Allied on its own on behalf of the employees. It is very rare for the EEOC to make such a move, but they felt that their findings constituted such action.

Allied Aviation services handles close to six billion gallons of jet fuel annually that fuels 1.8 million commercial flights in 24 major airports in Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America.

BY Ginger Gillenwater