The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a federal lawsuit against United Airlines, alleging that a supervisor called a Mongolian employee a racial slur in 2021.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, says that Alsunbayar “Bondok” Davaabat was subjected to a hostile work environment when United’s food and materials senior manager Terry McGurk called him a racial slur. The incident prompted Davaabat to leave the company after United failed to immediately investigate his complaint, the lawsuit says.
“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 lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit alleges that Davaabat, who was born in Mongolia and emigrated to the United States in 1996 before becoming an American citizen in 2009, faced racial harassment soon after joining United in 2019. It also accuses United of not promptly investigating Davaabat’s complaint and even giving a pay raise to McGurk, who was the focus of previous complaints, alleging that he used racial slurs and acted inappropriately toward minority employees.
“United took appropriate remedial action,” a spokesperson said in a statement to AirlineGeeks. “After an extensive investigation, the manager in this case was removed from the workplace and is no longer with United. We offered Mr. Davaabat re-employment in 2021, but he declined.”
Davaabat was hired by United to work as a driver for the airline’s Denver Catering facility near the Denver International Airport. The lawsuit says on Jan. 11, 2021, Davaabat, joined by a colleague, ate in the cafeteria on a meal break, when employees were permitted to remove their face masks. As Davaabat and his coworker threw away their trash way, McGurk told them to pull their masks up.
According to the suit, the two employees said, “Yes, sir,” to which McGurk allegedly replied, “What did you say, [slur]?” The manager then leaned in close to Davaabat’s face and told him he didn’t like his tone and grabbed and twisted the man’s arm to see his badge, the lawsuit alleges.
McGurk reportedly questioned Davaabat about his employment and if he valued his job, in a way that implied he was threatening Davaabat’s job.
“Lucky for you, I’m a good guy,” McGurk told Davaabat, according to the suit.
Multiple colleagues saw the incident, one of whom asked if Davaabat was alright. Davaabat thought McGurk was going to “beat him up” and felt vulnerable to racial violence because of the coronavirus pandemic, the lawsuit says.
Davaabat immediately attempted to file an internal complaint with his supervisor Thomas Ready, who told him to write a statement about the incident. Ready did not reassure Davaabat that his job was safe and that McGurk did not have the authority to fire him.
Ready told Davaabat he could not investigate the incident because McGurk was higher ranking than him, court records say. Instead, Ready instructed Davaabat to provide the written statement to Kevin Creviston. The colleague who had joined Davaabat for lunch and witnessed the alleged altercation also submitted a statement.
When the company did not address Davaabat’s complaint by the end of the workday, he submitted his two-week notice, the lawsuit says. He stated in his notice he was leaving his position due to United’s failure to respond to his report of racial discrimination.
Creviston did not investigate the complaint during Davaabat’s final two weeks with the company, the lawsuit claims, instead telling Davaabat there was nothing he could do because McGurk was higher ranking than him.
The company began investigating Davaabat’s complaint more than a month after the incident, according to the suit. McGurk wasn’t interviewed until March 2021, nearly two months after Davaabat’s complaint.
McGurk was allowed to retire in lieu of termination in July 2021.
“The EEOC is committed to enforcing our nation’s laws preventing race and national origin harassment in the workplace,” Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Phoenix District, which includes Colorado, said in a statement. “Employers need to remain vigilant in preventing their own managers from engaging in harassment in the workplace. And employers must act promptly in investigating harassment allegations and must immediately take steps to stop the harassment and take appropriate disciplinary and remedial actions, especially where the harassing incident involves both a racial slur and physical assault.”
