Sometimes flight attendants can get injured on the job, and then get time off to recover. Here’s a fascinating story of how United Airlines became suspicious of one flight attendant’s sick leave, to the point that the company hired a private investigator to track his movements. He ended up being fired, and is now suing to get his job back. Thanks to PYOK for flagging this.
In this post:
United hires private investigator to track flight attendant
A former United flight attendant is fighting to get his job back, after the airline accused him of violating the company’s policy while on leave, over a work-related injury.
Fillippo Marinesi started working as a United flight attendant in 2014, and was even at one point awarded with the carrier’s “One Hundred Award,” honoring the 100 top employees in a particular year. Then in August 2023, he became injured on a long haul flight from Newark (EWR) to Dubai (DXB), suffering a spinal injury.
Upon his return to the United States, his doctor told him he would need to take time off to recover, and that was granted by the airline. Due to not earning flying pay, he experienced financial difficulties, and couldn’t afford to stay in his home near Newark. As a result, he decided to temporarily relocate to Kissimmee, Florida, to be with his family.
While he stated that his plan was to stay with his cousin, due to space constraints, his cousin made arrangements for him to stay in a hotel room. This hotel room happened to be in the same building as a new restaurant that was owned by his cousin.
According to the former flight attendant, in early 2024, United hired a private investigator to keep an eye on him. After some surveillance, the company accused him of working at his cousin’s restaurant, in violation of United’s sick leave policy.
The investigator reportedly took pictures of him over several days, following him around as he’d run family errands, do sightseeing, and return to the hotel. Then based on a combination of the surveillance and his social media posts, United accused him of unauthorized employment at his cousin’s restaurant, ultimately leading to his termination.
The former flight attendant is now suing the airline to get his job back, plus to secure back pay and punitive damages. He argues that he was terminated based on “assumptions and misinterpretations of the surveillance and social media content,” which was used to build a case against him.
For example, one photo used against him showed him handling food in the restaurant’s kitchen, though the man argued that this was a private family event, and the restaurant wasn’t even open to the public at the time.
I’m not sure what to make of this, but wow…
Obviously I can’t speak as to what this former flight attendant’s intentions were, and also, the totality of evidence that United has against him.
It’s fascinating to me that United would hire a private investigator to keep an eye on someone on sick leave. I assume that’s because the airline had good reason to believe that something was up. I’m curious, does anyone know how frequently this happens? I wonder what made United so suspicious in the first place.
Next, United flight attendants are unionized, so the fact that the union couldn’t help save his job sure makes you think that the airline had some pretty strong evidence against him. In theory, one major benefit of being unionized is having these kinds of protections when things go wrong, but obviously that didn’t go very far here.
Based on what we know, I can certainly see how all of this could be pretty suspicious. I mean, he moved into a hotel room in the same building as his cousin’s restaurant, and was then spotted in there several times, including handling food. That’s not to say he’s necessarily guilty or did anything wrong, but it sure sounds like what you’d expect an agreement to be in a situation where someone is being paid to work at a family member’s business.
Bottom line
A United Airlines flight attendant suffered a spinal injury while operating a long haul flight. He ended up getting sick leave approved, so that he could recover. However, the company became suspicious when he moved down to Florida, and moved into a hotel room in the same building as his cousin’s restaurant.
The airline ended up terminating his employment, accusing him of working while on sick leave. The airline determined this based on hiring a private investigator, and also based on social media content. Now he’s suing the airline to get his job back.
What do you make of this strange story?
When you are on extended sick leave, UA requires you complete documentation about possible other employment. I am on such leave and had to fill this form out; I do telework using my computer at home, and I had to get permission from UA to continue this employment with another employer. It's a medical issue; I am not on Worker's Comp. and I receive no benefits.
I am guessing this employee is out on...
When you are on extended sick leave, UA requires you complete documentation about possible other employment. I am on such leave and had to fill this form out; I do telework using my computer at home, and I had to get permission from UA to continue this employment with another employer. It's a medical issue; I am not on Worker's Comp. and I receive no benefits.
I am guessing this employee is out on Workman's Comp and an abuse was suspected. I find it hard to believe that UA "spys" on employees on a regular basis.
He probably was not paying union dues so they they bear minimum required by law to help.
I am in a union. (I’m not a flight attendant) My union tells us (I have never been injured) that if your out on workman’s comp to stay home, draw your curtains and watch reruns of Opra. Period. Try not go out shopping if you can avoid it. The reason is because they could see you lift something in a store and say well you lifted that so your healthy enough to work. Also do...
I am in a union. (I’m not a flight attendant) My union tells us (I have never been injured) that if your out on workman’s comp to stay home, draw your curtains and watch reruns of Opra. Period. Try not go out shopping if you can avoid it. The reason is because they could see you lift something in a store and say well you lifted that so your healthy enough to work. Also do not post anything on social media. Even old stuff. They have see people on social media wearing certain types of shoes and made claims that you wore x shoe which is high heel or difficult to walk in so your back or leg or whatever couldn’t be that bad.
Very common particularly during protected contract negotiations, which UAL has been in for half a decade. Labor relations in the airline industry vary between poor and abysmal. None of this surprises me.
I was a flight attendant for a major carrier for many years. Abuse of sick leave and disability leave was very common, especially in California where the benefits are more generous. Everyone knew who the offenders were, but it was almost impossible to fire them in California
As soon as I read his name I knew he was guilty.
That's how I feel about you, Davidewski.
I recently had to take sick leave for cancer treatment. Thankfully the cancer was successfully treated but I had surgical complications that impacted my ability to return to work. Even though I could take a year off with 70% pay, my health insurance would be suspended after 14 weeks which meant I had to return to work so I could continue my treatment. Oh… and I work for a large integrated health system.
For all thx who think sending a PI after an employee who is sick... hope you never get sick.
But he wasn't sick. And sending a PI for an employee who takes sick leave is wildly different than hiring a PI for an employee who takes workers comp. The company has to actively pay the salary of an employee not there - of course they are going to investigate to protect themselves from fraud.
I don't think Americans understand the health impact of their at-will precarious employment culture. Creating masses of people who live terrified of being fired doesn't create a culture or society of happy, fulfilled people and directly impacts productivity.
We are aware...
What's disgusting to me is that he had a spinal injury bad enough to require leave from work but apparently wasn't being paid/not receiving enough in disability pay to stay in his home.
Maybe he was… but if you can save money by staying elsewhere and even feel up to working a bit to make some extra cash why not do both these things? (Besides unemployment fraud of course)
I know Filippo personally and got nothing good to say about his work ethics. This is a summary of what I know about him:
-I flew with Filippo many times and he was always idle while everyone else was busting their butts to get things done
-He has claimed more OJIs (on the job injuries) than anyone else I have met
-He used time off from one of his OJIs to go to...
I know Filippo personally and got nothing good to say about his work ethics. This is a summary of what I know about him:
-I flew with Filippo many times and he was always idle while everyone else was busting their butts to get things done
-He has claimed more OJIs (on the job injuries) than anyone else I have met
-He used time off from one of his OJIs to go to Columbia and get a liposuction and other cosmetic procedures done
-He took a picture of another flight attendant taking a cat nap when he wasn’t supposed to, sent the picture to a supervisor and got him terminated
-There are more things he has done like scamming co-workers
Ahhh... the joys of internet, where everything must be true.
I know Chiara personally and got nothing good to say about his work ethics. This is a summary of what I know about him:
-I flew with Chiara many times and he was always idle while everyone else was busting their butts to get things done
-He has claimed more HJIs (hand job injuries) than anyone else I have met
-He used time...
Ahhh... the joys of internet, where everything must be true.
I know Chiara personally and got nothing good to say about his work ethics. This is a summary of what I know about him:
-I flew with Chiara many times and he was always idle while everyone else was busting their butts to get things done
-He has claimed more HJIs (hand job injuries) than anyone else I have met
-He used time off from one of his HJIs to go to Columbia and get a liposuction and other cosmetic procedures done
-He took a picture of another flight attendant taking a cat nap when he wasn’t supposed to, sent the picture to a supervisor and got him terminated
-There are more things he has done like scamming co-workers
Ahhh... the joys of internet, where everything is absolutely true.
I know Eskimo and Chiara and Fillipo personally and got nothing good to say about their work ethics. This is a summary of what I know about them:
-I flew with Eskimo many times and he was always building igloos while everyone else was busting their butts to delay the plane
-They have given each other more BJIs (blow job injuries) than anyone else...
Ahhh... the joys of internet, where everything is absolutely true.
I know Eskimo and Chiara and Fillipo personally and got nothing good to say about their work ethics. This is a summary of what I know about them:
-I flew with Eskimo many times and he was always building igloos while everyone else was busting their butts to delay the plane
-They have given each other more BJIs (blow job injuries) than anyone else I have met, because they use teeth
-Eskimo used time off from one of his BJIs to go to Idaho and suck something, and other cosmetic procedures. His BJI was exacerbated
-Chiara took a picture of Eskimo taking a cat nap on Fillipo's face when he wasn’t supposed to, sent the picture to a supervisor and got them both into mandated therapy
-There are more things they has done like scamming children and boning his mother
Absolute menaces, the lot of you.
Business owner here: this is extremely common
Rank and file employees are EXTREMELY lazy and will look for any excuse not to work.
They commit workers comp fraud all the time, so it’s best to investigate every claim to the full extent allowed by the law.
Former insurance claim rep here. Workers comp does it a lot across all industries, especially when it is an extended leave, or an injury that is either suspicious or hard to prove with medical diagnostics. Generally happens for a few days isn’t something that occurs during the entire time. I’m guessing it was not United specifically but their insurance carrier/third party administrator.
Came here to say this. As someone who has worked in the work comp insurance industry, I can second the comment that this is a practice is much more likely that of the insurance carrier or third party administrator and not United.
Yes, especially if they have some sort of work restriction that seems tailored away from having them able to do any work whatsoever even light duty.
There is a United F/A on a light duty assignment at my home airport who is working as a gate agent boarding flights (the rest of the staff is outsourced/third party). Speaking with a couple of friends who are United F/As, they do offer things like this as...
Yes, especially if they have some sort of work restriction that seems tailored away from having them able to do any work whatsoever even light duty.
There is a United F/A on a light duty assignment at my home airport who is working as a gate agent boarding flights (the rest of the staff is outsourced/third party). Speaking with a couple of friends who are United F/As, they do offer things like this as light duty as sometimes can do this sitting on a stool or maybe they have a lifting restriction of like 10lbs or similar.
I wouldn't say very common but it does happen. More common if there were long-term disability insurance benefits at play. Insurance companies often will hire PIs to watch people collecting LTD benefits. Some very large companies self-insure so maybe that is what happened here.
HR here, this is very common what United did. Absolutely nothing surprising here. It sounds like the employee was working while out on leave from a workplace injury. This is explicitly prohibited. Also, whether he was paid or not is largely irrelevant. If this employee was healthy enough to be running food - United can make the claim that he was healthy enough to come back to work. United can further prove the employee could...
HR here, this is very common what United did. Absolutely nothing surprising here. It sounds like the employee was working while out on leave from a workplace injury. This is explicitly prohibited. Also, whether he was paid or not is largely irrelevant. If this employee was healthy enough to be running food - United can make the claim that he was healthy enough to come back to work. United can further prove the employee could have submitted for a reasonable accommodation to get him back to work. This employee is toast, and rightfully so. Don't mess around with Workplace Injury or STD or LTD benefits.
Agreed. This is very common. Northwest Airlines would do the exact same thing, but they generally used the in-house Internal Audit team to perform the investigations. And in almost every single case, the resulting terminations were upheld during arbitration. And it wasn't just flight attendants. If you were on sick leave and traveling on a pass, they would meet you at the gate upon arrival and terminate you on the spot. Harsh treatment? Perhaps. Effective? Very!
Arbitration is a joke
I had a customer service manager once who went out on OJI with a restriction of not standing for more than 15 minutes or walking much distance. Basically made even light duty assignments useless for him. HR had a PI tail him as suspected him of working off the books for cash at a golf course.... which was great when the PI even went and played a round of golf and had this guy as his caddy!!
This is fairly common. Some employers and insurance companies even have their own full time field investigators. Whether the evidence against this guy adds up or not, I don’t know but leave fraud investigation is definitely a thing.
MAGAts will be in here to defend United in 3, 2...
…. 1, 0.
I’ll bite DJT,
Some readers might not understand the meaning of the word “MAGAts”, sensible people simply won’t comment …. :-)
Don't bite DJT. You have no idea where he has been.
I am repulsed by MAGAts. However, the reality is that, here in US it is fairly common for employers and insurance companies to deploy private investigators to guard against personal injury claim fraud. United, by no means is not an outlier here.
** by no means an outlier here.
OK, Beavis. I never voted for Trump and would never wear a MAGA hat. If you called me a MAGA supporter, I'd be enraged. But, as a person who respects fair play, I say good on you United.
This has nothing to do with politics. If a company suspects you’re working while on leave, they’re going to investigate.