DALLAS — Four Dallas-area Delta Air Lines flight attendants filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in what may be the first wave of attacks on Delta’s weight limits for flight attendants.
The employees allege that Delta unfairly requires flight attendants to maintain weights unrelated to job performance, and that the requirements constitute illegal sex, age and disability discrimination.
Delta spokesman Bill Berry said the complaints were premature because Delta imposed a July 24 moratorium on enforcing its weight limits and will propose “significant” changes in its weight policy by Oct. 1.
Kelley Coyner, attorney for 120 Delta employees who want to change the policy, said the flight attendants want Delta to eliminate the weight limits and consider only an attendant’s ability to perform the job. She said similar suits will be filed in other cities.
“Weight restrictions are the last vestige of what has been the tendency on the part of airlines generally to view flight attendants as cute, young, sexy things who happen to also serve passengers and evacuate planes,” Coyner said.
Delta’s policy specifies the maximums that flight attendants can weigh based on their height and age. For example, a 5-foot-5 woman under age 35 could weigh a maximum of 138 pounds; between 35 and 45, she could weigh up to 140 pounds; and at 45, 142 pounds. Flight attendants in the lawsuit said the extra leeway for older employees is not enough.
In addition, said Cathy Pate, one of the four who filed with the EEOC, Delta’s policy leads to unhealthy behavior and is not uniformly enforced.
The other flight attendants who filed were Adrienne Wolchik, Connie Teitel and Denise Clanton. All have worked at least 17 years at Delta.
Delta has given ground jobs to those who do not meet the weight rules.
American Airlines last year settled a federal lawsuit by agreeing to a more liberal weight policy that raised the maximums as flight attendants grew older. The EEOC is pursuing complaints against USAir and TWA. Coyner said. Continental and Northwest airlines have eliminated their weight limits, and United Airlines has suspended enforcement of its policy.
