SkyWest Airlines loses sexual discrimination case

A federal jury in Dallas last week awarded $2 million in punitive damages and $170,000, for emotional harm, with the total reduced to $300,000 due to statutory caps, in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit involving a female employee who was sexually discriminated against while working as a parts clerk for SkyWest Airlines Inc.

The verdict in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. SkyWest Airlines Inc. is the largest jury trial award the EEOC has obtained in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the agency said in a statement.

The jury unanimously found that SkyWest subjected the employee to a hostile work environment based on her gender and that the company failed to take prompt remedial action despite knowing about the harassment. The jury did not find that SkyWest retaliated against her by placing her on indefinite administrative leave after she submitted a complaint to the EEOC, the agency said.

The EEOC said in its August 2022 lawsuit that during her employment, multiple SkyWest employees made crude sexual comments and derogatory statements to the employee about rape and rape victims. Her manager allegedly did nothing in response to her complaints, and a subsequent investigation by the airline’s employee relations manager failed to uncover the full extent of the harassment.

The jury’s award was reduced based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s statutory caps on compensatory and punitive damages.

Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment.