American Airlines flight attendants blame illness on the airline's new uniforms. Photo / American Airlines
American Airlines flight attendants blame illness on the airline's new uniforms. Photo / American Airlines
A jury has upheld the claim that a clothing supplier should pay more than $1.6 million in damages to cabin crew members who claim their uniforms made them sick.
The court in California heard the case of four American Airlines workers who blamed chemicals used by the outfitters for a list of ailments including rashes and problems breathing.
With lawyers claiming to represent a collective of 400 other flight attendants with similar grievances and uniform related health-issues, the verdict could open the floodgates to similar lawsuits.
The outfitter’s lawyers described the jury’s siding with the cabin crew as a “technicality” and had not indicated if they will appeal their judgment, reported USA Today.
But no sooner were they in the uniforms, airline staff began complaining of issues.
“I would wake up and my eyes would be completely swollen. I looked like I had been in a boxing match,” airline worker Tracey Silver-Charan told the Associated Press.
“I was unable to breathe. I often felt like I was going to pass out on the job. I was coming home and my husband was running me to the [hospital’s] urgent care.”
The airline was aware of the complaints, says Associated Press, which reported American gave staff the option of wearing old uniforms or offered to pay for similar outfits at consumer retail outlets Macy’s and JCPenney.
The trial at Alameda County Superior Court near San Francisco has been described as a bellwether case with reportedly hundreds of other American Airlines workers sitting on similar complaints.
All were waiting on the jury’s verdict on the uniforms supplied by Twin Hill Acquisition Co.
The case claimed that the new uniforms contained traces of formaldehyde, toluene, and other hazardous chemicals.
While many of these chemicals are used in warehousing and improving the lifespan of industrial garments, last week jurors at the Alameda County court found that the uniforms were a “substantial factor in causing harm”.
A 2010 study by congressional researchers found that formaldehyde levels in clothing is generally low, but some people suffer allergic reactions including rashes, blisters, and itchy or burning skin. Washing clothes before wearing them can help, but doesn’t always work, the researcher said.
The flight attendants’ lawyers put on witnesses who testified about a 2018 study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, who reported finding a link between new uniforms and health complaints by Alaska Airlines attendants.
Lawyers for Twin Hill put on expert witnesses who discounted the potential health effects of the uniforms. Silver-Charan said none of the defence experts ever talked to her or asked to test her uniform for chemicals.
The jury proposed US$320,000 ($534,000) in lost income and pain and suffering for Silver-Charan.
A jury has sided with American Airlines cabin crew, seeking damages from their uniform supplier. Photo / Joshua Hanson, Unsplash
A second defendant chosen by the airline workers’ lawyers, Brenda Sabbatino, was awarded over US$750,000 in damages.
Defence lawyers selected two others who had reported less severe health effects. For them, the jurors proposed US$16,000 and US$8300 in damages.
This is not the first case of airline workers pressing uniform lawsuits against employers and their outfitters.
In March, Delta Airlines worker Summer Owens filed a federal lawsuit in Brooklyn after the JFK-based cabin crew member blamed a 2022 cancer diagnosis on the new uniform.
Her case, which was filed among 225 plaintiffs, alleges that her doctor’s T Cell Lymphoma prognosis “was related to defendant Delta’s uniforms”.
“It’s done a lot of damage to my personal life, my finances, my health,” Owens told the New York Post. “And still I’m losing things every day.”
