Delta Flight Attendant Sues After Being Fired For Sharing Trump KKK Cartoon

Delta Flight Attendant Sues After Being Fired For Sharing Trump KKK Cartoon

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A former Delta Air Lines flight attendant is suing the company after she was fired for a cartoon she shared on her Facebook page.

Delta fires flight attendant for Facebook post

Former Delta flight attendant Leondra Taylor has filed a lawsuit against the airline this week, accusing the company of racial discrimination and retaliation. Taylor had worked at Delta for 13 years, and was dismissed in April 2021, because of a cartoon she shared on her Facebook page.

Taylor shared the below cartoon, intended to be from the 2020 presidential debates. It depicted Trump wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, with the caption “Thank You Mr. President, For Wearing Your Mask.”

The cartoon that got a Delta flight attendant fired

Airlines have strict guidelines about social media use for employees, and Delta has among the strictest policies. While Delta doesn’t prohibit its employees from political discussions on social media, the airline prohibits “using hateful, racist or other discriminatory language or images, advocating violent or illegal acts, participating in hate groups, or shaming others.”

How did this all come to light? Taylor had helped in a case against another Delta employee involving social media use. Another Delta flight attendant had allegedly posted a picture of Michelle Obama sitting next to a monkey wearing similar clothing. Taylor said she was offended by the racial implications of the post.

That flight attendant ended up being fired. Taylor was at that point accused of making a post on Facebook celebrating that dismissal, though no proof of that was ever found. This allegedly got Delta to investigate Taylor’s Facebook page, which brought up the above picture.

Flight attendant now suing Delta over being fired

Delta ended up suspending Taylor in February 2021, and then dismissed her in April 2021. The reason? The airline claimed that her post on social media was racially motivated and political, in violation of the company’s social media policy.

Taylor acknowledged that the post was political, but denied that the cartoon was disrespectful, hateful, or discriminatory. According to the lawsuit:

“In fact, her post was quite the opposite. It simultaneously made a statement about Trump’s denial of the need for COVID protective measures, and that racial discrimination against African Americans was a systemic issue starting at the top, with the then president.”

While Taylor tried to get Delta’s conflict resolution panel to review the case, Delta’s human resources department has allegedly not handed over the details of the case.

Taylor is accusing Delta of racial discrimination, in violation of the Civil Rights Act. She claims that non-Black employees haven’t been subjected to the same harsh punishments for similar breaches of the company’s social media policy.

Keep in mind that Delta flight attendants aren’t unionized, and there continues to be a big unionization effort at the airline. Presumably it’s not just pay and working conditions that makes some flight attendants want to unionize, but also stuff like this.

Now, this situation isn’t totally unprecedented. Just recently I wrote about how a former Southwest flight attendant had been fired for harassing other Southwest employees with her anti-abortion stance. She recently won a lawsuit, and was awarded $5.3 million.

Meanwhile in 2020, Delta fired a flight attendant who made repeated comments on social media about “Antifa,” Black Lives Matter, etc., calling people “scrawny black anarchists.”

A Delta spokesperson issued the following statement about this situation:

“When Delta employees intermix Delta’s brand with conduct or content that does not reflect our values of professionalism, inclusion and respect, that conduct can result in discipline or termination. While personnel issues are considered private between Delta and its employees, the circumstances described by our former employee are not an accurate or complete explanation of the company’s termination decision.”

Bottom line

Delta fired a flight attendant for posting a cartoon that depicted Trump wearing a KKK hood with a caption thanking him for wearing his mask. Delta’s social media policy prohibits employees from using hateful, racist, or other discriminatory images, shaming others, and more.

This former flight attendant is now suing, accusing the airline of racial discrimination and retaliation. I’m curious to see what comes of this lawsuit…

(Tip of the hat to Paddle Your Own Kanoo)

Conversations (85)
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  1. Mike Guest

    Well done Delta for using the same standards for whites and blacks. Ironic that the girl who instigated getting one flight attendant fired was just as guilty of the same offense. As the saying goes, “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”.

  2. Capt Richard Odato Guest

    Employees are also citizens. Citizens have First Amendment protection. That F/A should be free to speak her mind - especially if it does not involve the airline. Delta is WAY out of line here.

    1. Mike Guest

      Well done Delta for using the same standards for whites and blacks. Ironic that the girl who instigated getting one flight attendant fired was just as guilty of the same offense. As the saying goes, “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”.

  3. Jeff Guest

    Clearly Ms Taylor learned the right to free speech does have practical limits in the world. She may possess w/e her thoughts, where she would not demand a company act against a person with a picture/words against obamas? biden? So here for her, fine for me a carve out, but not for thee. If there are consequences from her lawsuit, she'll accept them?

  4. Lavaz4 Guest

    As my Grandma would say..what’s good for the goose is good hit the gander.

    Works both ways Darlin’

  5. Jason Guest

    Delta must immediately reinstate this flight attendant with back pay. I also want to know whether Delta supports Trump and his efforts to undermine democracy. If so, we must not fly Delta.

  6. Mark Guest

    Well done Delta. I support this hateful conduct by either side. Freedom of speak is against the government. Private employers can stop this nonsense and poor behavior and should follow Delta's lead.

    1. Leigh Guest

      "Freedom of speak (sic) is against the government". Did you ever take a civics lesson (or grammar lesson) in high school?

      But maybe you are promoting a different government that doesn't support civil liberties???

  7. jeffk Guest

    I guess she should have been more careful.....but, the item she posted looks accurate to me. Social media stuff can get a lot of employees in hot water. Maybe she will prevail in her case. I hope so.

  8. Tim KElly Guest

    Regardless of political affiliation, freedom of speech outside of the direct employment context should trump (no pun intended) all, even though I realize there is no constitutional issue here as there is no state actor. This cuts across the spectrum. Don't forget the WN FA who won a very large judgment at trial for a decidedly anti-abortion post, although as a federal trial (plaintiffs') attorney who read the pleadings in that case online at PACER.gov...

    Regardless of political affiliation, freedom of speech outside of the direct employment context should trump (no pun intended) all, even though I realize there is no constitutional issue here as there is no state actor. This cuts across the spectrum. Don't forget the WN FA who won a very large judgment at trial for a decidedly anti-abortion post, although as a federal trial (plaintiffs') attorney who read the pleadings in that case online at PACER.gov I question whether that verdict will hold up on appeal.

  9. CMorgan Guest

    What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

    1 more reply
  10. Kanaka Diamond

    Well, the KKK's official newspaper did endorse Trump back in 2016....

    1 more reply
  11. Sel, D. Guest

    Racial discrimination? Lol, they probably thought harder about firing her strictly because she’s black. The post is in very poor taste.

  12. globetrotter Guest

    If Delta and FAs are not aviation related, what else is, besides airplanes and airports? Americans love to lecture each other and the world about freedom and civil rights, but they are clueless how and when it is appropriate to exercise it. Just because it is legal does not mean you are freely to flaunt and abuse it. We always should put society interests above personal gratification for the good of the country. We must...

    If Delta and FAs are not aviation related, what else is, besides airplanes and airports? Americans love to lecture each other and the world about freedom and civil rights, but they are clueless how and when it is appropriate to exercise it. Just because it is legal does not mean you are freely to flaunt and abuse it. We always should put society interests above personal gratification for the good of the country. We must be mindful of the consequences of our acts and lyrics before anything else. If your action outside work may blemish the company's reputation, then the company has every right to defend and protect it by severing its work relations with you. Many guys who participated in the insurrection were fired by their employers once it got their attention. Lastly, remember Kathy Griffin lost her gig on CNN's NY Eve with Anderson Cooper for displaying a drawing of Trump's decapitated head. Can we stop slapping labels on each other on every topic we engage in?

    2 more replies
  13. Donna Diamond

    Regardless of the merits of her case, I’m always amazed that people continue to get burned by their social media postings. If you value your livelihood, better think twice before posting controversial stuff.

    1. platy Guest

      @ Donna

      Maybe - but we're taking about a posting a cartoon that had already been publicly published in a newspaper.

  14. Ricardo Guest

    Anyway, what a brilliant cartoon!

  15. Dean Guest

    People should check President Trump's support and work for African-Americans compared to President Obama. There should have been praise for him rather then ridicule

    1 more reply
  16. Tim Dunn Diamond

    What is not known (at least in this article) is whether the terminated FA had ever identified herself as a Delta employee. If she had, she does subject herself to Delta's rules.
    If she had never identified as a DL employee in the channel in which she posted her comments, then she needs to push the case all the way to court and not settle for anything less than the full amount of her...

    What is not known (at least in this article) is whether the terminated FA had ever identified herself as a Delta employee. If she had, she does subject herself to Delta's rules.
    If she had never identified as a DL employee in the channel in which she posted her comments, then she needs to push the case all the way to court and not settle for anything less than the full amount of her future career earnings and pension. Cases like this need to clearly establish - all the way to the Supreme Court - that individual Americans acting on their own and without identity to any organization - are free to speak anything they want as long as that is legal. Hateful speech is legal and we hear the same thing out of all kinds of politicians on both sides of the aisle.
    Companies absolutely have the right to dictate the image of the company their employees convey but they do not have the right to dictate speech if that employee acts on its own; the same principle must be true for any other social or religious organization.

    The fact that WN settled for multi-millions of dollars with the conservative FA who was wrongfully terminated and the union accomplished absolutely nothing proves that unions are not of help; the legal system is where she found relief.

    6 more replies
  17. Tom Guest

    I don't think a decision to be terminated should be based on whether these type of postings are pro or anti Republican (Trump) or Democrat. That type of argumentation is just silly. Delta needs to be consistent here regardless of one's political perspective, and they apparently are. I don't think the Company has a reputation to just randomly fire flight attendants. Had they been doing that, flight attendants would have already unionized.

  18. DenB Diamond

    This post has everything one needs to drive "engagement". "Fired", KKK and Trump in the headline. It's got unions, race, masks...

    But it's not an aviation story. the exact same story could run about coca Cola or Con-Agra. Has Zero to do with Points, Miles, flying, aircraft...

    This is the kind of post a guy posts when he isn't getting enough sleep for some reason.

    1 more reply
  19. Boogen Guest

    Looks like a hate crime to me and she should be locked in solitary for something much worse than anyone did on 6 January.

  20. George Romey Guest

    Political views have no place in the workplace. Same if it has been a similar meme for Biden. You're there to do a job.

    6 more replies
  21. DLPTATL Guest

    I think it's a stretch to say that there is a "big unionization effort at the airline." It's more accurate to say Sara Nelson and The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA have repeatedly tried to unionize Delta FAs. Delta FAs receive profit share (in 2019 it was record setting), pay during boarding (something the union has used as a rallying cry for years despite never getting it for their members), and generally seem to enjoy their...

    I think it's a stretch to say that there is a "big unionization effort at the airline." It's more accurate to say Sara Nelson and The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA have repeatedly tried to unionize Delta FAs. Delta FAs receive profit share (in 2019 it was record setting), pay during boarding (something the union has used as a rallying cry for years despite never getting it for their members), and generally seem to enjoy their job (looking at you AA and UA).

    I hope Delta gets their union contract done with their pilots ASAP, which seems to be coming down to the need to hire more pilots (a plight across all US airlines). They're already among the best compensated in the industry. It's not the Delta way to have these family disputes in the public eye.

  22. Never In Doubt Guest

    I’m sure the comments for this post will be both respectful and insightful.

    3 more replies
  23. Eve Guest

    If only they took the initiative to investigate the 20 or so odd DL pilots and FAs I know on insta that constantly post Qanon, anti mask, anti vaccine conspiracies in their Instagram profile

    The level of harm they cause and how they are getting away is astounding. You would imagine being a pilot would make you intelligent like NASA pilots which is what schools teach you when you were small, but what do...

    If only they took the initiative to investigate the 20 or so odd DL pilots and FAs I know on insta that constantly post Qanon, anti mask, anti vaccine conspiracies in their Instagram profile

    The level of harm they cause and how they are getting away is astounding. You would imagine being a pilot would make you intelligent like NASA pilots which is what schools teach you when you were small, but what do you do when even CAE is known to induct barely passed high schoolers into thei cadet programmes of ULCCs

    2 more replies
  24. Stuart Guest

    Bottom line is that her post was factual. Do we need to actually see him wearing a hood to make this less controversial?

    23 more replies
Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Tim Dunn Diamond

What is not known (at least in this article) is whether the terminated FA had ever identified herself as a Delta employee. If she had, she does subject herself to Delta's rules. If she had never identified as a DL employee in the channel in which she posted her comments, then she needs to push the case all the way to court and not settle for anything less than the full amount of her future career earnings and pension. Cases like this need to clearly establish - all the way to the Supreme Court - that individual Americans acting on their own and without identity to any organization - are free to speak anything they want as long as that is legal. Hateful speech is legal and we hear the same thing out of all kinds of politicians on both sides of the aisle. Companies absolutely have the right to dictate the image of the company their employees convey but they do not have the right to dictate speech if that employee acts on its own; the same principle must be true for any other social or religious organization. The fact that WN settled for multi-millions of dollars with the conservative FA who was wrongfully terminated and the union accomplished absolutely nothing proves that unions are not of help; the legal system is where she found relief.

9
Eve Guest

If only they took the initiative to investigate the 20 or so odd DL pilots and FAs I know on insta that constantly post Qanon, anti mask, anti vaccine conspiracies in their Instagram profile The level of harm they cause and how they are getting away is astounding. You would imagine being a pilot would make you intelligent like NASA pilots which is what schools teach you when you were small, but what do you do when even CAE is known to induct barely passed high schoolers into thei cadet programmes of ULCCs

8
Stuart Guest

Bottom line is that her post was factual. Do we need to actually see him wearing a hood to make this less controversial?

7
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