A Former WestJet Flight Attendant Is Suing Over Claims She Was Sexually Assaulted By Pilot

WestJet is being sued by a former flight attendant, who alleges that a pilot sexually assaulted her while on a stopover in Hawaii.

The former employee, Mandalena Lewis, claims that the airline failed to provide a safe working environment for female flight attendants, and now a class-action lawsuit against the company has been certified by B.C.'s Court of Appeal.

The original lawsuit was filed in 2016 but, after the bid previously failed in the B.C. Supreme Court, the latest judgement means that decision has been overturned and she can now pursue her class action claim against WestJet.

According to CBC, Lewis also has a separate lawsuit against the airline, alleging that WestJet failed to take proper action after she reported her sexual assault. She claims that the company fired her, and chose to protect the pilot.

What are the claims?

According to the most recent judgement — posted on April 19 — Lewis claims that WestJet breached a number of terms in its employment contracts by "failing to design, implement and maintain a workplace program to combat harassment."

She also claims that WestJet has "routinely and systemically denied its female flight attendants the benefit of the anti‑harassment promise, particularly when pilots are the harassers."

The judgement added that WestJet fosters a corporate culture that "overlooks and effectively tolerates harassment, encourages silence, fails to properly investigate complaints of Harassment, and resolves complaints by protecting the harassers."

Her claims are that, because of the company's conduct, it is breaching its contracts with female employees.

Class-action lawsuit certified

The judgement said her original application to have the lawsuit certified as a class action was dismissed because the previous judge concluded that "a proceeding before the Human Rights Tribunal would be preferable to a class proceeding."

Lewis challenged the dismissal in The Court of Appeal, and it is now certified.

The Court of Appeal judge said the Human Rights Tribunal also presents "various substantive and procedural access to justice concerns that are not present in a class action proceeding, making a class proceeding the preferable procedure."

Lewis now has the chance to put her class-action claims against WestJet in court. The claims have yet to be proven in court and WestJet have also yet to defend themselves against the claims in court.