Delta Air Lines has settled a lawsuit brought by a flight attendant it dismissed after he spoke out about being sexually assaulted by a senior coworker at his graduation ceremony.
The settlement, which was reached for an undisclosed amount of money, brings to an end the lawsuit brought by Aryasp Nejat, who was hired by Delta as a flight attendant in May 2023.
Nejat accused Delta of sexual harassment and breaches of the Railway Labor Act because he posted pro-union messages in a semi-private Facebook group for Delta flight attendants.
The extraordinary lawsuit claimed that Delta effectively covered up for a senior crew member who, Nejat said, had sexually assaulted numerous male new-hire crew members at graduation ceremonies.
After completing a gruelling two-month training course at Delta’s world headquarters in Atlanta, Nejat and his classmates attended what should have been a joyous graduation ceremony.
After receiving their wings, the new recruits were then made to sit through a speech by a senior flight attendant on why they shouldn’t support a campaign by America’s biggest flight attendant union to unionize their workforce.
After the speech, the senior flight attendant said he was going to carry out a uniform inspection, but Nejat says this turned into a horrifying “non-consensual, sexually assaultive touching” which involved the suspect reaching inside Nejat’s pants close to his genitals and then rubbing his chest.
Nejat didn’t immediately report the assault because he felt like the suspect was “favored by Delta,” but in April 2024, Nejat brought the issue up in the Facebook group.
Posting under a pseudonym in an attempt to protect his privacy, Nejat initially called out Delta’s anti-union campaigning, saying: “They yell at us and call us ungrateful pigs when we’re not pissing out pants from excitement that we got $1 – $2 raises.”
Another flight attendant made a comment about the suspect who had allegedly sexually assaulted Nejat, saying he had the power to choose which crew members would appear in the next airline safety video.
Nejat responded, saying the suspect “sexually harasses attractive male FAs [flight attendants via quid pro quo agreements to them in safety videos and promotional materials.”
Delta quickly found out about Nejat’s Facebook comments and linked them to him. At this point, Nejat officially reported the allegations of sexual assault to Delta.
The airline promised to investigate his claims but the probe was quickly wrapped up when Nejat was terminated.
In response to the lawsuit, Delta attorneys said the airline has “clear and well-disseminated policies against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and a reasonable and available procedure for handling complaints.”
The airline said it investigated a complaint raised by Nejat, but it wasn’t able to substantiate the allegations.
Speaking to The Guardian, Nejat said the settlement “represents a step towards accountability and healing after a difficult period in my life, and I really hope that my experience helps highlight to the public, and to especially Delta flight attendants, the importance of having a union.
Nejat added: “I truly believe that Delta values its anti-union campaign over the legal rights of its flight attendants to organize a union and their legal right to make complaints of sexual harassment.”
Since being terminated from Delta, Nejat has managed to start working as a flight attendant at another major US airline. He says he plans to use the settlement to cover his law school fees.
