Former Southwest employee claims there was a 'whites only' break room at Houston airport
A former Southwest Airlines employee has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the airline, claiming it had a whites-only break room at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, by Jamel Parker, who worked for the airline from 2013 to 2017. Parker took legal action after he received his right-to-sue notice from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The lawsuit states that the whites-only break room was not only in existence for years but that Southwest Airlines and Parker’s supervisor were also aware of the segregated break room. The break room was “common knowledge,” according to the suit, and employees referred to it as the “WB,” short for “White Break Room.”
Parker found out about the break room in August 2013, just one month after he became a Southwest employee, according to the lawsuit. Parker was previously an employee of AirTran Airways, joining the company in September 2008. AirTrain Airways then merged with Southwest, and he stayed on with Southwest.
The suit says, “The only reason the White Breakroom does not still exist today is because of a renovation that occurred in 2016 or 2017 that turned the room into a supervisor office.”
This is not the only instance of racial discrimination set forth in the lawsuit. Parker claims he faced racial discrimination when he was terminated in April 2017 for not reporting an accident that involved driving a pushback, a vehicle that pushes an aircraft backward away from an airport gate, into a power cord. He believes that white employees who had similar accidents were given lesser discipline as well as chances to improve, according to the lawsuit.
In 2017, at Houston Hobby airport’s Gate 45, black employees allege they found a noose made of bungee cords, which the suit claims are an “obvious reference to the history of lynching blacks and are hung for the purpose of intimidation and discrimination.”
Southwest Airlines provided the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle on Parker’s lawsuit: “We wouldn’t be able to offer comment on matters relating to litigation, but we welcome the opportunity to emphasize that Southwest is and always has been a Company that puts its People first. We work relentlessly to foster an environment that is diverse and inclusive. We do not tolerate or condone discrimination of any kind, and we cultivate a workplace that mirrors the Customers we serve.
“Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prides itself on an open and inclusive work environment that consistently ranks among the world’s best places to work. We employ more than 57,000 People who provide the world’s best hospitality to our more than 120 million annual Customers as they travel throughout the Southwest network. Our People are our greatest asset, and it is our goal to support our Employees and our Customers who come from all walks of life.”
Parker is seeking a trial by jury.
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