A lawsuit by Southwest Airlines flight attendant Lisa Patterson alleges the airline’s handling of her severe allergy to cats and dogs cost her flight income and medical expenses, NDTV reported.
NDTV said Paddle Your Own Kanoo obtained details of the complaint. Patterson alleges she asked Southwest for assignments on flights without animals in the cabin. The complaint says she sometimes stayed on flights when cats or dogs were in the part of the cabin where she was working to avoid losing pay. It alleges she then became ill, needed medical attention and incurred medical charges.
The complaint says Patterson lost flight income when she could not work flights carrying pets. Her attorneys allege disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which they say was amended in 1991 through the Civil Rights Act. They also argue the airline failed to provide a safe workplace.
The lawsuit was filed last week in an Illinois district court, NDTV reported. The outlet said Southwest had not issued a public statement by the time its report was published on Oct. 28.
