Former SkyWest pilot sues company

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There's always more to the story. That last tidbit put the entire affair in a different light, did it not?

 

[Resume Writer]

I have some old friends at Skywest that are quite familiar with this case. One thing that I find interesting is that they apparently fired the FA a few months ago after her wages were garnished from the small claims suit and for skipping out on incidental charges run up at hotels!

Now, if bringing a small claims lawsuit and garnishing her wages is considered harassment at Skywest, then the whole court system in America is in trouble!

Sounds like a good case and good timing though with the current union vote underway! I hope he wins and can return to an organized pilot group.

Sat,

They wouldn't have fired her for getting her wages garnished. If so, every man and woman paying child support would be canned. I would bet they fired her for skipping out on the incidental charges at hotels. That provision is probably covered in the employee procedures manual.

Firing a person during a union vote can work either way. It can be used as intimidation which may prevent other employees from "getting out of line." Or, if this guy has a credible case, then it can serve to help the effort to organize the union.

Kathy

 

[Resume Writer]

The story is that he asked her to go to Spain for a week, with all expenses paid because he had an interest in her. Well she went and when he did't get what he wanted, he asked for the money back. She refused and he sent her multiple inappropriate emails on company computers because she ignored him, would't return phone calls, etc. She took those emails to management. They had the proof and he got fired.
Yes, he was very active with trying to get a union on property.
As a matter of fact, the union organizers asked him to withdraw from being involved because he was to radical and they thought he would be a hinderance.

Erlanger,

If what you say is true, and he wrote threatening emails through the company system, then he has every right to be fired. Even if he had written those off company property, it still would have constituted a hostile work environment for the FA and the company would have most likely taken action. In that case, they may have warned him first, who knows. I would have to see what the company policy said to have a definitive answer to that.

Regardless if this part is true or not, there are some good lessons to be learned from this. One, never put in writing what you do not want others to see. Two, if you must correspond with someone, do it through registered mail with return receipt requested. Third - Don't dip your pen in the company ink!

Kathy

 

[skywav8r]

"...... he may as well kiss the rest of his airline career good-bye. He will always be a marked man."

I'm not so sure about this. There were a couple of pilots that sued United years ago. Their suit complained that the uncorrected vision requirement was discriminatory. They lost, but one of them was hired at United around the 1999-2000 era.

 

[flight_junkie]

The story is that he asked her to go to Spain for a week, with all expenses paid because he had an interest in her. Well she went and when he did't get what he wanted, he asked for the money back.

That's a bold statement. Lets look at the facts regarding this gal: (1) She was terminated from SkyWest for repeatedly bailing on her hotel incidentals; (2) a court determined and issued a judgement saying that she had been responsible for the money due for the Spain trip; and (3) she refused to pay the judgement, requiring Callaway to legally garnish her wages. In light of those, I would infer her word/story is unlikely to be credible. Seems as though she fabricated the story to try to get out of paying a debt. Regardless, her guilt, credibility, and/or story has absolutely nothing to do with this case.

If anyone loses their job for reasons which they feel are unfair/illegal/questionable, they have the legal right to publically file their complaint(s) and get their issue(s) addressed in a federal court. That's what the pilot did. Leave it to the judge to determine what the facts are and to render a subsequent verdict. It's doubtful that anyone here has the facts to fairly label anyone as guilty or not guilty.

 

[Morning Wood]

The story is that he asked her to go to Spain for a week, with all expenses paid because he had an interest in her. Well she went and when he did't get what he wanted, he asked for the money back. She refused and he sent her multiple inappropriate emails on company computers because she ignored him, would't return phone calls, etc. She took those emails to management. They had the proof and he got fired.
Yes, he was very active with trying to get a union on property.
As a matter of fact, the union organizers asked him to withdraw from being involved because he was to radical and they thought he would be a hinderance.

Once again, one half of the story gets put in the paper or
some silly rumor starts about some friend of a friend who
once knew someone that works at Skywest told me what happened.....and without having the whole story someone
or several someones has to start beating the union drum
and talk about how some poor pilot is being mistreated.
If they truely fired the guy for union activism, he wouldn't
be the only one getting fired.

How many times has someone been fired (rightly or wrongly)
and NOT filed a grievance or lawsuit? Do they only
have that right with a union? No. Staying employed
and staying out of the doghouse is pretty simple from
my experience. Show up for work on-time and keep
your mouse in the house.

MW

 

[Ghost Rider]

Get Your Facts Straight!

**************

 

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And this folks, is why we need unions....

Do you have something against Air Guard pilots or are you just another leftist Bush hater?

 

[Sentinel]

For the Record

(1) This pilot for the record was never asked to leave an Organizing Committee at SkyWest.

(2) He has documentation that refutes all company allegations or what I would call weak limp reasons for why he was terminated. Company documentation is either not dated, where his copies of the same docs are dated. Company docs had been altered by omitting parts etc. .....

(3) The company used items such as his suit against a local police dept. for illegal search and seizure (no warrant) which was conducted drug raid style ala DEA, busting down doors ect. He won the suit in court. This raid happened because of a kooky neighbor, of whom he had video tape of her setting his garbage can on fire next to his house then calling the police to lodge false accusations.

(4) Company illegally obtained phone records from police (nice cops to hand over information illegally) to show him as an undesirable. The phone records how several complaint calls from neighbors and police calls. These calls however were from before he bought and moved into the house some 2-3 years later.

(4) The Flight Attendant in question simply owed him some money for a vacation that she attended with 8 other folks who all verfiy his story. He did win a smal claims suit against her, and it was his e-mail on the company website to communicate with her, that got him fired. He used the company website because all other means of contacting her had been disconnected. This same FA was later terminated for unkown reasons, although some rumors indicate that she had run up considerable incidental bills at overnight hotels.

This termination was unjustified, but in the face of an "AT WILL" employment situation it seems that a company can do just about anything they want.

Please get facts straight in the future!