United Airlines will pay $99,000 to settle a federal discrimination case in which an Asian American employee alleged that a supervisor had called him an anti-Asian slur, told him to pull up his mask and physically assaulted him.
The incident involved Alsunbayar Davaabat, a Mongolian American who was then a driver at the airlines’ Denver catering facility, and occurred during the height of the pandemic amid a rise in reports of anti-Asian hate, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a news release. Davaabat resigned due to the company’s lack of action in the immediate aftermath, the release said.
“The allegations arose at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Asian Americans and those of Asian descent experienced public hostility and violence because of their race and/or ethnicity based on a common misconception that Asians caused the virus or pandemic,” the commission said. “The allegations demonstrated how public vitriol manifested as backlash discrimination in the workplace.”
United Airlines said in a statement that the manager in the case was “removed from the workplace” after an investigation and that the employee had declined an offer to return to the company.
“United is pleased that settling this case will avoid protracted litigation for all parties,” the airline said.
In January 2021, Davaabat and a co-worker were finishing their meals in the employee lunchroom when a manager told them to pull their masks up, the EEOC complaint said. When both replied, “Yes, sir,” the manager, who seemingly misheard Davaabat, turned back toward him and asked, “What did you say?” before calling him a racial slur, the complaint said. The manager then leaned into Davaabat and questioned his tone in a “threatening manner” while twisting his arm to look at his employee badge and asking if he valued his job, the complaint said.
“Lucky for you, I’m a good guy,” the manager told Davaabat, after slapping him on the back, according to the complaint.
While Davaabat reported the attack to a supervisor and gave a written statement to another manager, he was not contacted that day, prompting him to put in his two weeks’ notice, the complaint said. Additionally, no one from the company contacted him in those final two weeks. The complaint points out that United began an investigation into the incident more than a month later and, during the probe, gave the manager a pay raise in April 2021. Months later, the manager signed a separation agreement that allowed him to “retire in lieu of termination,” the complaint said.
“By its failure to take any steps to either investigate Davaabat’s allegations or protect him from further racially hostile harassment, United further contributed to and exacerbated the racially hostile work environment for Davaabat,” the complaint said.
The complaint also notes that Davaabat, who began working for the company in 2019, had long been experiencing discrimination and harassment from co-workers. For months, his fellow employees refused to address him by his nickname, “Bondok,” claiming it was too difficult to pronounce, the complaint said. Instead, they opted to call him “Chinaman.”
“Davaabat’s coworkers offensive conduct of calling him ‘Chinaman’ was open and notorious such that management knew or should have known about the behavior,” the complaint said.
As a result of the settlement, the airline also agreed to give Davaabat 75,000 flight miles, in addition to reviewing its own equal employment opportunity policies and submitting regular compliance reports to the commission. And United will change its workplace violence policy to ensure that investigations of violence or physical threats are initiated within 72 hours of the complaint.
