Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DISCRIMINATION—M.D. Fla.: Flight attendant, reprimanded for mask noncompliance, cannot advance religious, racial bias claims, (May 29, 2025)

By Todd Harrison, J.D.

The white, Christian flight attendant also had a sizeable online following, attended the January 6 protests, and had faced online criticism for her political beliefs.

Granting summary judgment against the Title VII religious and race discrimination claims alleged by an American Airlines flight attendant, a federal district court in Florida found that she failed to assert that anyone had ever made a comment about her religion and that the only alleged conduct related to her race that was not time-barred occurred when she was reprimanded for her mask noncompliance. However, she admitted to knowing of no flight attendants reported for not wearing a mask during the mandate period who did not also receive a reprimand, thus dooming her race-related hostile work environment and retaliation claims (Trocano v. American Airlines, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-645-JES-KCD (M.D. Fla. May 28, 2025)).

COVID-19 furlough. From October 2020 to March 2021, the flight attendant was furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, she increased her involvement on social media platforms, quickly building a significant online presence. She also attended the January 6 protests, but never entered the U.S. Capitol and was never charged with any criminal offense.

Alleged harassment. According to the flight attendant, from September 2020 onwards she has been subject to harassment from her fellow employees which has been tacitly condoned by American. She also asserted that American has enforced its attendance and performance policies unequally against her because of her skin color and religion, leading her to file a charge of discrimination with the Florida Commission on Human Rights on October 4, 2022.

Racial comments. The flight attendant admitted to knowing of only three comments from three different people that referenced her race between “late 2020” and “early 2021.” The comments were posted online in private Facebook groups for former and current American flight attendants.

In addition, the flight attendant referenced one other comment made by a fellow flight attendant in August 2023 that mentioned the flight attendant’s “privilege.” However, the flight attendant acknowledged that the term “privilege” does not clearly have racial connotations.

Reprimand. The record contained one instance of conduct by American occurring after December 28, 2021. On February 3, 2022, the flight attendant received an advisory for mask noncompliance during an American flight on December 3, 2021.

Claims. Four claims were asserted by the flight attendant against American: (1) Title VII religious discrimination for a hostile work environment; (2) Title VII religious retaliation; (3) Title VII race discrimination for a hostile work environment; and (4) Title VII disparate treatment on the basis of race. The court addressed each claim in turn.

No religious comments. Regarding her religious discrimination claim for a hostile work environment, American pointed out that she “does not assert [that] anyone ever made a comment about her religion.” The flight attendant did not respond to this, referring only to her purported faith in the context of her being “…a white Christian female who supports Donald Trump.” However, the court noted that she never asserted that religion was a factor in the way that she was treated.

The record also failed to support the flight attendant’s allegations of religious discrimination. When she contacted a member of American’s HR team in December 2020 to complain about “a lot of religious discrimination occurring in the workplace,” she was advised to report such conduct and to inform the alleged perpetrators that religious adherents are a protected class. When she applied for a religious exemption to American’s vaccine mandate on January 4, 2022, her request was granted in just three days. “Neither event is indicative of an environment hostile to religion,” said the court. Accordingly, summary judgment was granted against this claim.

Retaliatory conduct. Turning to the flight attendant’s retaliation claim based on religious discrimination, American pointed out that none of the purported actions the flight attendant complained of could have been retaliatory as they occurred before her January 4, 2022, religious exemption request. The flight attendant again failed to respond to this argument.

Any conduct from before the flight attendant applied for a religious exemption on January 4 necessarily could not have been retaliatory, explained the court. Thus, the only possibly relevant conduct to this claim was the advisory she received for mask noncompliance on February 3, 2022. However, the flight attendant did not attempt to establish a prima facie case of retaliation based on that advisory, nor did she make any specific arguments to tie a convincing mosaic theory to this claim. Indeed, she admitted to knowing of no flight attendants “reported for not wearing a mask during the mandate who did not also receive an advisory.” As such, summary judgment was also granted against this claim.

Time-barred claims. Next, the court considered the flight attendant’s racial discrimination claims. American asserted that most of these claims occurred more than two years before she filed her charge of discrimination with the state on October 24, 2022, and were thus time-barred. The court agreed.

Once again, the only alleged conduct falling within the limitations period was the advisory the flight attendant received for mask noncompliance, and that conduct could not resurrect her time-barred claims because it was not discriminatory, said the court. Accordingly, summary judgment was granted against both her racial discrimination claims.

The case is No. 2:23-cv-645-JES-KCD.

Judge: Steele, J.

Attorneys: Kevin J. Drummond (Blue Line Law Firm) for Alaina Trocano. Garrett S. Kamen (Fisher Phillips) for American Airlines, Inc.

Companies: American Airlines, Inc.

Cases: Discrimination RaceDiscrimination ReligiousDiscrimination Retaliation Covid19 FloridaNews