vagabond

By Mike Carter
Seattle Times staff reporter


United Airlines has settled a federal sexual-harassment lawsuit filed by a former pilot who grounded herself after repeatedly finding pornography hidden in the cockpits of domestic airline flights.

Details of the settlement with former Capt. Lisa Stout are secret. The 2-year-old lawsuit was resolved earlier this month, just weeks before it was set to go to trial before U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle.

Before the settlement, Coughenour had ruled that United's efforts to dismiss the case were "unpersuasive," and determined that Stout would be allowed to seek punitive damages against the airline if the suit went to trial.

Stout's attorney, Victoria Vreeland, said a nondisclosure agreement executed with the settlement prevented her from talking about it. United's attorneys did not return telephone messages. An airline spokeswoman in Chicago, Megan McCarthy, said the airline would not comment.

Court documents show that Stout, a United 737 captain based out of Seattle, found pornographic photos of women on more than 20 flights in 2004 and 2005. Her lawsuit alleged that United's efforts to catch the perpetrators were inadequate and the company retaliated against her after she reported it.

The photos were mostly found in hidden spots, such as under a cap on a safety device known as a "stick shaker," or taped to the lid of the unused ashtray. Stout logged each instance in the flight log and had maintenance workers take the photos down, according to court filings.

Local News | United settles suit over hidden porn found on flights | Seattle Times Newspaper

RJSAviator76

That's one way to recover her lost pension...

CANAM

I recently found pornographic material created for women in the flightdeck. Somebody had written "girl pilots rule" on the offensive photo. I wonder what would happen if I "grounded" myself?

Short Bus Drive

Should anyone be "taking apart" the stick shaker, or fooling around with the ashtray? (can't smoke!).
Why was she looking in these spots?

(BTW, PLEASE NOTE: Scarcasm)

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Avroman

So she was actively searching for this "offensive material"? If it were in plain sight or say taped inside the lid of the aircraft log that she'd have to open as a normal part of her duty that's one thing. I don't think looking under the yoke cap is a normal part of any acceptance flow (or any other checks) And as stated the ashtray is not to be used anymore....
I am not saying posting porn in the plane is right but in her job capacity she really had no business ever seeing it where it was placed. I suppose if she were a mechanic I could see some argument possibly. But as a pilot you were LOOKING for that. Another example of why the courts in this country are so screwed up.....

The Juice

Wonder how much she got?

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deltabound

Ahhh. . .sexual harassment. Guilty until proven innocent (which, by the way, is impossible). It "is" whatever the accuser says it "is".

Better to settle and make it go away, of course. On the other hand, I wonder how many other WP's are looking at this going "hmm, I know how to put pics in hard to reach places too . . "

captjns

Have you all forgotten the litigious environment we exist?

Just curious… how did the plaintiff’s Base Captain, the Company Chief Pilot, The VP/Dir. Of Ops., and or HR deal with the situation before the courts and shysters had to get involved? (Only UAL guys and gals can answer this one.)

Were there memos and notices issued concerning the importance of political correctness?

Well folks, don’t forget the pitch forks and torches for the next witch hunt.

newKnow

Looks like a classic "hostile work environment" case.

But, a question I would have is how exactly was the company supposed to catch the perpetrators?

After reading the article, I think the case could have gone either way, but UAL just wanted it to be done with.

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ToiletDuck

Affirmative action for the win.....

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