These Complaints are latest in litany of legal complaints against FFG; labor dispute drags on

Inglewood, CA: A third woman has filed a complaint against Flying Food Group, an airline catering giant LAX following two other women who did the same last month. All three are alleging that Flying Food Group failed to protect them from sexual harassment and gender discrimination on the job

In November of last year, two women employees of Flying Food Group, Nelly Hernandez and Sandra Ruiz, filed charges with the California Civil Rights Department alleging that they were subject to repeated sexual advances by their supervisor, including in the form of sexual comments, inappropriate staring, and multiple instances of unwanted physical touching at work.

Earlier this week, Patricia Hernandez Marquez, a former employee of Flying Food Group, joined Miss. Hernandez and Ruiz by filing her own charges, which allege that the same supervisor harassed her while she worked for Flying Food and drove her to quit. 

The women are asking the Civil Rights Department to investigate Flying Foods Group’s practices, including whether the conduct they have alleged constitutes illegal discrimination under California law.

Nelly Hernandez stated, “My supervisor has caused me to feel unsafe at work.  I’m afraid to clean the upstairs areas by myself in case he’ll find me there.  I stopped wearing perfume to work after all his comments.  I decided that I needed to do something.  Others need to know what is happening and that they, too, can combat this kind of injustice in their workplaces.”

Sandra Ruiz said, “After all that my supervisor has done, I feel anxious just to see him at work.  I get headaches and stomach aches and have lost weight in recent months.  The stress I feel having to come into work every day is too much for me to handle some days. After I learned about my co-workers speaking out, I knew I wasn’t alone.  I decided I had to come forward and demand respect, too, so that this stops happening.”

“This is not the first time Flying Food has been accused of failing to protect its employees,” said Susan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, the union that represents all complainants. “Time and again, workers have raised complaints about sex discrimination and other issues to the company.  It’s time for Flying Food to own up to its responsibility to the workers and hold management accountable for this kind of behavior.  No woman should have to work under the kind of harassment Nelly, Sandra, and Patricia have described.”

“Sexual harassment and discrimination isn’t just humiliating to workers,” said Jennifer Reisch, supervising attorney for the University of California at Irvine’s Workers Law and Organizing Clinic, which filed the charges on behalf of Flying Food employees.  “It also can be a tool for employers to divide workers and undermine their efforts at organizing and building solidarity in the workplace.”

Workers at Flying Food Group have been embroiled in a labor dispute since April 2023, when they went on strike for 28 days. Since that time, labor negotiations have continued to drag on without an agreement. The company has also been at the center of numerous legal battles; last month, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board announced that it would be moving to trial on seven unfair labor practices charges filed against the company, while a dozen more unfair labor practice charges remain under investigation.  Flying Food Group also paid out $1.2 million in damages earlier this year to employees for failing to recall them in a timely manner after the COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with the states’ Right to Recall law.