Delta worker alleges disability bias, retaliation after hand injury

According to the complaint, the employee joined Delta in 2005 and moved through several roles over his career, earning approximately $87,000 a year and, through seniority, a set weekly schedule. The filing says he had no prior discipline in nearly twenty years.

That changed in early 2023, the complaint alleges, after the employee and several coworkers raised concerns to management about morale, favoritism and what the filing calls departmental dysfunction. The complaint says a manager who had recently taken over the department asked whether the employees were “absolutely sure” they wanted to proceed, that the employee was later labeled the “leader” of the complaints, and that staff were told they could be sent “back to the phones.”

The filing also alleges the employee reported a coworker for “inappropriate sexual comments and degrading statements directed toward female employees,” conduct the complaint says created a hostile work environment and that management failed to properly investigate at the time.

In June 2023, according to the complaint, the employee injured both hands at work – the only workers’ compensation claim of his employment. The filing says he underwent surgery and injections, that his treating physicians advised he should not be working, and that he began an approved leave of absence in November 2023.

The complaint alleges Delta suspended the employee on May 31, 2024, while he remained on leave. It says the company told him in November 2024 that the allegations against him were not substantiated, but terminated him on November 26, 2024. The stated reason, according to the filing, was an alleged violation of a confidentiality policy tied to a text message. The complaint alleges he was given twenty-four hours to choose between termination and retirement with benefits.