A pilot for Southwest Airlines is suing the airline, her union, and a former colleague who pleaded guilty last year to stripping naked in front of her and locking the cockpit door.
Christine Janning is alleging that Southwest retaliated against her for coming forward when she was assaulted by her former colleague Michael Haak by grounding her. She also claims that the company kept him on despite a history of sexual misconduct, and her managers talked about her poorly in memos, The Associated Press reported.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association is also named in the lawsuit, and Janning claims that they conspired with the company and refused to support her in any way.
Lastly, Haak is named, and she is suing him for sexual assault after he pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of committing a lewd, indecent, or obscene act. For the plea, he received only probation.
Janning claimed that she had not met Haak before the incident in August 2020 when she was his co-pilot on a flight to Orlando from Philadelphia. She says that she ended up on the flight because he had used his seniority rights to bump another pilot scheduled to take the flight because he saw a woman was the co-pilot, The Associated Press.
When the plane reached cruising altitude, Haak told her he was on his final flight and wanted to do something before retiring. At that point, Janning claims that he bolted the door, put the plane on autopilot, and took off his clothes while watching pornography on his laptop and committing a lewd act for 30 minutes. She also says that Haak was taking videos and photos of himself while doing so.
However, Haak and his team have declined the accusations, according to ABC News.
Michael Salnick, the attorney for Haak, claimed on Wednesday that his client only started to take his clothes off after Janning encouraged him to do it. Salnick also said that nothing else happened, and no other complaints were brought against Haak.
Salnick claims that Haak only stripped down after he answered her question, asking what he wanted to do before retiring, with his desire to fly naked.
The lawyer says that Janning told him to go ahead, even making sexual advances while he stripped. According to Salnick, Haak declined the advances. He also denied that he took part in any lewd act.
Janning's attorneys have denied Salnicks claims that she encouraged him or made advances toward him, instead saying she was horrified that it was going on, the AP reported.
Southwest is claiming that it did support Janning and will "vigorously defend" itself against the lawsuit and claims. The union has not responded to the suit as of yet.
The lawsuit was filed last week in Orange County, Florida. No hearings have been scheduled at this time.
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