A 79-year-old former Delta Air Lines flight attendant is suing the airline after being fired over accusations that she swiped a carton of milk and other on-flight goods.
Ida Gomez Llanos, who worked for the company for 57 years, claims she was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by envious colleagues who wanted her gone because of her seniority and whopping $250,000 salary.
The lawsuit, filed this month in a Los Angeles court, claims she was “harassed” and “bullied,” and that the spreading of lies led to her being penalized and eventually terminated.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Llanos told the Daily Mail. “I’ve been accused of so many things and none were true. I try not to take it personally, but when you get mean about me and start lying, that is a problem.”
Llanos, who was reportedly the highest-ranking flight attendant in Los Angeles and ranked fifth in the country, said she received her first write-up in nearly 60 years in April 2018. She had been accused of stealing a carton of milk, as well as cereal packets and a chocolate bar. Colleagues also claimed Llanos put Bailey’s Irish Cream in her coffee.
‘They want to get rid of the older flight attendants,” she said. “I think they put us on a higher surveillance. It’s because they have to pay us so much because we’ve been there forever and your pay scale goes up each year. I think they can hire four newer flight attendants for what they pay me.”
Llanos said that as the most senior flight attendant in Los Angeles, she received company perks like a priority on overtime shifts. Her colleagues, she said, became envious of her and launched a smear campaign to get her fired.