Another Israeli flight attendant has filed a lawsuit against Delta Airlines for discrimination against Jewish employees and alleged antisemitic behavior by co-workers.
In a lawsuit filed in late last month in a New York court, flight attendant Sharon Lavy claims that after she complained about antisemitism at the company and Hamas-supporting flight attendants, Delta began "ambush tactics" against her with a “series of unfounded and bizarre allegations regarding her in-flight conduct," which ultimately led to her firing after 18 years of employment with the company.
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Delta Air Lines is facing several lawsuits filled by Israel and Jewish flight attendants
(Photo: Shutterstock)
The orchestrated campaign against her, according to the lawsuit, even included a deepfake video (a fake video created using artificial intelligence technology – AI) that supposedly showed her working on a plane that she was never trained to work on. She was also accused by the company of eating steak in front of passengers during boarding and being too busy chewing to read the required announcements on the public address system. It was also alleged that she used her cell phone at unauthorized times, refused to serve coffee to a passenger and sent him to make it himself, and that she kicked a coworker. According to her, all of these incidents were invented in order to exact revenge.
Lavy, who was promoted over the years to the position of flight service manager, was named in a similar lawsuit filed in November by her Israeli colleague, flight attendant Roey Segev. The two employees, who have since been fired, claim they suffered harassment because of their roles as bilingual flight attendants responsible for Hebrew-speaking passengers on the plane. According to the lawsuits, the two were criticized for taking too long to speak to Hebrew-speaking passengers, instead of providing prompt and courteous service to other passengers.
According to Lavy, the cabin manager behaved in a hostile manner toward her and Segev for antisemitic reasons, and completely ignored problems with the non-Jewish crew. In one instance, on a flight to Tel Aviv, the cabin manager demanded that they help her with tasks that were not within their scope of responsibility, and when they refused, she began to attack the two, shouting hysterically in front of the stunned passengers. She then refused to allow them rest time as required by regulations because "that's what I said."
In the lawsuit, Lavy also describes how she was accused of kicking or "touching with her foot" another flight attendant. When she requested additional information about the incident, such as the date or flight number, Delta allegedly refused to provide these details. In addition,it was alleged that Lavie used her cell phone in a way that endangered the flight and that she ate in front of passengers instead of greeting them upon boarding the plane. Lavie denied these allegations, noting that even an inexperienced flight attendant would not have behaved in such an unprofessional manner.
'The coffee incident'
The lawsuit details the "coffee incident" in which Lavy allegedly refused a passenger's request to make him a hot drink, claiming that he should make it himself. The passenger, it is alleged, then also approached Israeli flight attendant Roey Segev, who also refused to make him coffee - and in response, the passenger filed a formal complaint against them with the company. Lavy claims that these are "staged accusations."
She said she and Segev worked on opposite sides of the plane on the same flight, so it's unclear why the passenger specifically asked them to make him coffee. In addition, she said the complaint letter allegedly submitted by the passenger included "professional terminology used by flight attendants," which raises the suspicion that it was fabricated by colleagues. The letter she was shown included terms like "lavatory" and "personal device," instead of the common usage of the words "bathroom" and "cell phone," respectively.
When she asked the company for details about the case, she was shown a video that she claimed was fake and showed her against a "pasted-on background" of an Airbus plane she never worked on. She identified various distortions in the video, including the unnatural appearance of her hand, which appeared to have been manipulated by computer imaging. The conclusion, she claims, is that the video was digitally edited to falsely incriminate her.
Like Segev, Lavy claims that Delta violated safety procedures by not making an emergency landing when a violent passenger attacked another Israeli flight attendant, in an incident that occurred in May 2023 on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York. She claims that similar procedures have been used in previous cases when non-Jewish flight attendants were in danger, but in this case the decision not to make an emergency landing left her and the Israeli flight attendants to deal with the violent passenger until landing at JFK, which put their lives at risk.
After October 7, Lavy and 44 of her Israeli colleagues at the company complained to management that Delta was employing workers who had publicly expressed support for Hamas and called for harm to Israel. They expressed concern for their personal safety due to working alongside flight attendants who support an organization designated as a terrorist organization in the United States.
According to Lavy, despite assurances from management, the company took no significant steps against the employees following the complaints. On the other hand, similar complaints from non-Jewish employees about discriminatory and threatening behavior were actually responded to quickly. Lavy claims that the accusations against her were part of a planned strategy to incriminate her and create justification for making negative comments in her personnel file, which was intended to lead to her eventual dismissal.
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She says the allegations and harassment against her have caused her mental and physical harm, including insomnia, difficulty eating, significant weight loss and loss of income due to the reduction in hours she requested to work to avoid continued abuse. Lavy is seeking damages in an amount to be determined by the court, including the costs of legal proceedings, attorneys' fees and other expenses. Lavy also claims that Delta violated her constitutional rights and caused her significant harm as an employee, and is therefore seeking "remedies" that will compensate her and prevent similar conduct by Delta in the future.
Delta said in response to Ynet's inquiry: "We do not comment directly on pending litigation, and Delta has zero tolerance for discrimination of any form or retaliation in our workplace."
Lavy and Segev's lawsuit joins other lawsuits from recent months against the company, including those of a flight attendant who claimed that Delta refused to give her a day off on Yom Kippur, and of a flight attendant who claimed that he was served a pork sandwich after his bosses refused to give him time to buy food that would satisfy his religious and moral needs.