NEW YORK —Four former and current flight attendants filed a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, alleging that the US carrier’s management has an “anti-Jewish, Hebrew, and ethnic Israeli attitude.”
According the complaint filed at Brooklyn federal court, Delta discriminates against both its Jewish and its Israeli staff, as well as passengers.
“Delta has encouraged and maintained an anti-Jewish, Hebrew and ethnic Israeli attitude among management, who, through words and deeds, operate under an express assumption that ethnic Jews and Israelis, as employees and passengers, cannot be trusted, are aggressive and inappropriate, and engage in what are deemed to be “strange” behaviors by conducting prayers on the flight and requiring special dietary accommodations (kosher meals),” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Brian R. Mildenberg.
He added: ‘’Each of the plaintiff flight attendants, described as veterans with experience ranging from 10 to 40 years, worked Delta’s New York-Tel Aviv flight from JFK airport to Ben-Gurion airport. Two of them are ethnically “Jewish/Hebrew/Israeli” and were “disciplined or subjected to a hostile work environment” for associating with others Jews.’’
One of the flight attendants signed as a plaintiff in the lawsuits alleged that she was fired by Delta in March 2017 because she is Jewish. The company said she was dismissed because she had missed a flight, but the woman claimed she had been granted maternity leave at the time.
Delta said it “strongly condemns the allegations of discrimination described in the lawsuit and will defend itself vigorously against them.’’
“As a global airline that brings people across the world together every day, Delta values diversity in all aspects of its business and has zero tolerance for discrimination,” the company said in a statement.