Airlines
Alaska Airlines to remove gendered restrictions on Uniforms
In a ground-breaking consent decree, the ACLU, the ACLU of Washington, and the Washington State Attorney General’s Office ordered Alaska Airlines to end all gender-based restrictions on its uniform policy for flight attendants and to mandate additional training on gender identity and gender expression.
The administrative complaint brought by the ACLU and the ACLU of Washington on behalf of Justin Wetherell, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant who identifies as nonbinary and gender fluid, and who also serves as a flight attendant instructor, is favorably resolved by this consent law and order.
Wetherell has been required to follow Alaska Airlines’ gendered uniform and grooming regulations as a flight attendant, which oppose with their nonbinary gender identification and flexible gender presentation and are based on sex stereotypes.
Having worked as an Alaska Airlines flight attendant since 2014, Justin Wetherell said, “I am incredibly relieved and happy to put this process behind me.” This took far longer than I anticipated and seriously harmed my mental and emotional well-being. But I would do it all over again because I firmly believe that the right time will always come to act morally. For myself, Alaska Airlines, and numerous other nonbinary, transgender, and gender non-conforming individuals, this is the proper course of action. This win lays the framework for other people who are similarly impacted to find it simpler to change discriminatory laws.
Alaska Airlines: under a consent decree that was submitted today.
- Change the terminology and limits on facial hair, jewellery, and makeup, as well as the gendered restrictions on uniform pieces.
- Give Alaska Airlines staff members additional instruction on gender expression and identity as well as on state and federal civil rights protections.
- Pay the ACLU and the ACLU of Washington $40,000 in attorneys’ fees and $70,000 in compensation to Justin.
