Jewish Flight Attendant Sues Delta for Discrimination

Sasi Sheva didn't have a great 2022 working for his employer, Delta—at least not according to his new lawsuit against the airline accusing it of religious discrimination. Delta has "engaged in a pattern of intentionally discriminating and retaliating against ethnically Jewish, Hebrew, and/or Israeli employees based upon their race and ancestry," the complaint reads, per the New York Post.

• Non-kosher: The 44-year-old Israeli from Encino, California, who says he's worked for Delta for 2 1/2 years in good standing, alleges that the airline first discriminated against him in July of 2022, when Sheva's work assignments shifted and he had to be rushed to a new flight. The flight attendant hadn't eaten in some time, so he asked Delta managers taking him in a van to the runway to stop at the airport's concourse so he could find a kosher, vegetarian meal, per his complaint. Instead, he says, he was handed a ham sandwich, which is definitely not kosher nor vegetarian, despite his employee profile noting that he adheres to both.

• Yom Kippur: Sheva also says that in October of that same year, the airline "refused in bad faith and with no justification" to give him time off for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Ynet reports that Sheva also claims he faced harassment after he reported two workplace injuries. Per Business Insider, the first of those injuries is said to have taken place in July 2022, when Sheva says a vehicle he was riding in for work slammed into a parked car. The second allegedly involved Sheva tripping over his suitcase after it got tangled up in a plane seatbelt.
• Delta's reaction: "Delta has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind as part of our deeply held values as a global airline connecting the world," an airline spokesperson said, without further comment due to the pending litigation.

(More Delta Air Lines stories.)