Posts
Southwest Airlines pilot Christine Janning is suing the company, her union and a former colleague who pleaded guilty in 2021 for locking the cockpit door during a flight and changing into his birthday suit in front of her.
Janning report Michael Haak to Southwest and the FBI, but the company kept Haak on despite his alleged history of sexual misconduct, and the company managers denigrated her in memos.
She also alleges that the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association conspired with the airline and refused to support her. She is suing Haak for sexual assault, and he pleaded guilty last year to a federal misdemeanor charge of committing a lewd, indecent or obscene act, to which he was sentence to probation.
Haak's lawyer, Michael Salnick, said Wednesday that his client got naked only because Janning encouraged him to do so and said he never did anything else [such as wave 'Mister Doodles' at he or touch her inappropriately]. Salnick also mentioned that there had been no prior incidents by Haak.
Southwest said it supported Janning and that it would "vigorously defend" itself against the lawsuit. The union did not respond to a phone call seeking comment. Although the media generally doesn't publicize the names of sex crime victims, Janning, through her attorney, agreed to use her name.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Orange County, Florida states that Janning had not met Haak before August 2020, when she was his first officer on a flight from Philadelphia to Orlando. She claims Haak, a 27-year veteran of Southwest, had used his seniority right the previous day to bump another pilot who was scheduled to captain the flight, but she believes he did so because he saw that his first officer was a woman.
Janning said that when they reached cruising altitude, Haak told her this was his final flight and there was something he wanted to do before retirement. So he allegedly bolted the cockpit door, put the aircraft on autopilot, stripped off his clothes and began watching pornography on his laptop. Then he apparently began cuffing the carrot for a half hour while taking photos and videos of himself.
Haak's shyster lawyer, Salnick, claimed that it was Janning who asked Haak if there was anything he wanted to do before retiring, implying, of course, that she was making him a sexual offer. He said Haak rejected those and also denied Haak ever went into manual override.
But think about it--she didn't know him, was his subordinate, and also has no history of sexual improprieties. So the probability of her making advances on him seem rather remote.
At his sentencing hearing last year, Haak called the incident "a consensual prank" that got out of hand [no pun intended].
Of course, Janning's attorney, Frank Podesta, denied she encouraged Haak or made any advances.
Janning said in the lawsuit that she was "horrified," but she kept flying the plane while taking photos "to create a record." The plane landed safely.
And that wasn’t Haak’s final flight — he flew for three more weeks.
Unfortunately, Janning didn’t report the incident to a Southwest employee relations investigator until three months later. She said she waited because her boss had previously disparaged her to a male colleague. She said she asked the investigator not to inform her boss, but she did.
Janning said she was soon told that because Haak had retired, the airline's investigation was closed. She decided to go to the FBI and Haak was charged. Janning claims the company had sent Haak to a sexual harassment counseling center in Montreal after an incident in 2008 involving a flight attendant, but Salnick claims the incident never happened and his client was never sent for counseling.
"This person will do and say whatever is necessary to obtain a financial windfall. I feel sorry for her," Salnick, who doesn't like money, said.
Janning said as retaliation for the FBI report, she was grounded for more than three months, costing her part of her salary. She was then required to take "unnecessary" flight simulator training before she could work again. Personally, I believe that the company requiring her to take the simulator training after being grounded for that period of time was actually a good idea.
She also said that on the day she was grounded, the airline stranded her in Denver and the FBI had to book her a United Airlines flight so she could return home to Florida. She said a Southwest manager sent a memo to more than 25 employees "that made baseless allegations" about her flying competency.
* * *
Hey folks, consider subscribing to Brain Flushings and please check out the ads on these pages. It costs nothing to subscribe and it's worth every penny. And remember, every time you click on an ad, you help in the fight against Critical Race Theory, ignorance, The New York Times, and bovine flatulence. You also help me. Thanks.
* * *
Southwest denied Janning's allegations, saying "we immediately supported (Janning) by cooperating with the appropriate outside agencies as they investigated."
"Our corporate Culture is built upon treating others with mutual respect and dignity, and the events alleged in this situation are inconsistent with the behavior that we require of our Employees," the statement read.
No hearings have been scheduled to date.
No comments:
Post a Comment