Veteran Black United Airlines Flight Attendant Says Carrier Used ‘Tone Policing’ to Retalitate Against Her

A veteran Black flight attendant for United Airlines claims the Chicago-based carrier used ‘tone policing’ to retaliate against her and discriminated against her based on her age and race, resulting in her being demoted from a senior role as an international purser.

Joyce Knight filed a lawsuit against United Airlines in a Chicago district court earlier this week, alleging racial discrimination, retaliation, and age discrimination at the hands of her employer, asking the court to force United to reinstate her to her senior position as a purser.

‘Tone policing’ is sometimes caused by cultural bias towards different communication styles, often manifesting itself in a way that sees non-White communication styles as wrong or inappropriate.

Knight says in her lawsuit against United that ‘tone policing’ portrays Black women as being angry or aggressive which resulted in two ‘thinly veiled’ racist complaints being made against her.

In the first incident, Knight says she received a complaint from a colleague who was traveling as a passenger on an international flight from Paris which labeled her as having a bad tone and attitude.

Knight says she had been laughing and joking with the passenger throughout the flight.

In the second incident, United took a second-hand report from a fellow flight attendant who reported a passenger had complained about Knight’s tone as a problem.

“Instead of believing Ms. Knight, an employee of nearly 30 years, United credited the complaint of a white male employee who wanted to be catered to in First Class, and a second-hand report from an unknown fluer, that her ‘tone’ was wrong,” the complaint alleges.

“Further, Ms. Knigt is only one of many older flight attendants who are being made to feel unwelcome on the job,” the lawsuit continues.

“For example, junior flight attendants routinely give negative reports on senior flight attendants during their monthly check-ins with their supervisors in order to damage the reputation of the senior flight attendants.”

Problems started for Knight when she was injured on the job and had to take some time off before returning to work in April 2023. Just four months later, she was stripped of her title as international purser.

Knight believes United deliberately retaliated against her because she had successfully obtained workers compensation during her time off sick.

Last October, two veteran United flight attendants sued the carrier over allegations that it only wants “white, young and thin” female crew members who are “predominantly blond and blue-eyed” to work on special charter flights for the LA Dodgers baseball team.

The lawsuit came just over three years after two other United flight attendants sued the airline over allegations that it was picking “youthful, white flight attendants – most of whom are blonde” to work NFL charter flights.

At the time, the airline said flight attendants who work in its sports team charter program “are largely representative of our overall flight attendant population in regards to age and race.”