According to a complaint filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a United Airlines pilot and flight attendant engaged in a consensual intimate relationship for four years until the flight attendant discovered that the pilot had posted nude images of her online.  After the relationship ended, the pilot, Mark Uhlenbrock, continued to post sexually explicit images of the flight attendant.  The flight attendant twice complained to management at United Airlines, expressing concern about her safety and the impact on her daily work life.  However, United Airlines advised her that the pilot’s conduct did not constitute sex harassment in the workplace and that company intervention was unwarranted.

In 2016, Uhlenbrock pled guilty to stalking in violation of federal law and was sentenced to prison for 41 months.  The EEOC subsequently filed suit against United Airlines on August 9, 2018, alleging it condoned or encouraged a hostile work environment based on sex.

“Employers have an obligation to take steps to stop sexual harassment in the workplace when they learn it is occurring through cyber-bullying via the internet and social media,” said Philip Moss, a trial attorney in the EEOC's San Antonio Field Office.  “When employers fail to take action, they fail their workers and enable the harassment to continue.”

EEOC Supervisory Trial Attorney Eduardo Juarez added, “Here, United was aware of the intimate details of how its pilot was harassing its flight attendant, but took no responsibility to put a stop to it.  As a result, over a period of many years, the flight attendant had to work every day in fear of humiliation if a co-worker or customer recognized her from the pilot's postings. This is unacceptable, and the EEOC is here to fight such misconduct.”

A copy of the complaint is available here.