United Airlines Agrees to Pay Denver Airport Worker $99,000 And 75,000 Frequent Flyer Miles to Settle Federal Discrimination Lawsuit

United Airlines has agreed to pay a former catering worker at its Denver hub $95,000, plus 75,000 MileagePlus frequent flyer miles in order to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of the victim by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The EEOC filed its lawsuit against United in a Colorado district court in September 2024, but on Monday, the Commission said it had reached an out-of-court settlement with United which includes a three-year consent decree.

As part of the consent decree, United has vowed to review and improve its equal employment opportunity policies, promising to initiate investigations into any allegation of workplace violence within 72 hours of a complaint being submitted.

United has also agreed to communicate changes to its EEO policies with employees. To ensure United sticks to the agreement, the EEOC will require the carrier to submit regular compliance reports.

The EEOC said it initially tried to reach an out-of-court settlement through a voluntary conciliation process, but after failing to reach an agreement with United, the federal agency sued the airline in federal court.

The case involves an ex-catering worker at Denver International Airport who is of Mongolian descent but who has lived in the United States 1996 and has been a naturalized US citizen for more than a decade.

When Alsunbayar Davaabat joined United Airlines as a catering truck driver, he claims he was almost immediately subjected to racist name-calling with coworkers referring to him as “Chinaman” rather than by his real name.

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that Davaabat says the abuse became really serious as Asian Americans were facing a worrying uptick in hate crimes and racist abuse over misplaced fears that people of Asian descent were responsible for the pandemic.

In one incident, Davaabat’s manager called him a “chink” in a dispute over wearing a face mask before grabbing and twisting his arm. His manager then insinuated that he could have Davaabat terminated.

Left shaking from what had occurred, Davaabat immediately reported the incident to his line manager, but he was given no reassurance that either his job was safe or that United would even bother investigating his complaint.

The same day, Davaabat submitted his two-week notice, saying that he had no faith that United would investigate his complaint.

During his two-week notice period, United failed to initiate an investigation, and no one from the airline reached out to Davaabat to check whether he was okay. Davaabat told the EEOC that he no longer felt safe working for United and that he had no other choice but to leave the airline.

United did, however, eventually investigate Davaabat’s claims, and in July 2021, the manager at the center of the allegations was allowed to retire in lieu of termination, even though the airline had received previous reports of the manager using racial slurs in the workplace and misbehaving towards employees.

A spokesperson for the Chicago-based carrier said that the airline did offer to reemploy Davaabat following its internal investigation, but he declined.