Worker Asks For Time To Care For Wife With Cancer, Is Fired: Suit

QUEENS, NY — When Fazel Khan’s wife underwent her second breast cancer surgery in June 2018, Khan asked Richard DiSalvo, his then-supervisor at American Airlines, if he could take time off to be with her.

DiSalvo, however, told Khan that since the airline was short staffed he couldn’t take any time off — a claim that DiSalvo made good on in the following months, when he refused to give Khan time off to help his wife recover from surgery, and then fired him after he announced his plan to request time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a new lawsuit contends.

American Airlines told Khan that he was being fired because the company “wanted to change things up,” but Khan says that his termination is part of ongoing discrimination that he faced as an employee of the airline, according to the suit.

When Patch reached out to American Airlines to ask about this suit, the airline said it is "reviewing the allegations of the complaint," adding "American has an unwavering commitment to its team members and we’re committed to providing a safe and comfortable environment for everyone who works at our airline.”

Three years of discrimination

Khan, 59, has been working in the airline ground service equipment repair business for over 40 years, in both the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, where he was born, records show. Since 1993, however, he has just worked in the U.S., where he is a New York State resident.

In 2015 he started work at American Airlines, supervising ground service equipment maintenance and repair at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in Queens.

During his tenure at the airline, DiSalvo would call Khan “Trini Bobby,” a slur in reference to his country of origin.

Although Khan asked his supervisor not to call him by that name, DiSalvo refused to stop, even using the slur in front of more senior managers, who did nothing to stop the mistreatment, according to the suit.

The name mocks Khan’s national origin, which is considered a protected class under Equal Employment Opportunity legislature, the lawsuit contends.

Khan also says in the suit that during his three years of employment at American Airlines he consistently received the worst shifts, was last to pick vacation time, didn’t get any weekend off time during the summer, and was the only person of his title to never get a yearly bonus.

While Khan is suing American Airlines for discriminating against him by “subjecting him to a hostile work environment” on the basis of his “national origin,” the discrimination only worsened after his wife’s cancer diagnosis, according to the suit.

Family and Medical Leave Act discrimination

In March 2018, Khan’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. He immediately told DiSalvo about her diagnosis and first surgery, which was scheduled for a couple of months later, records show.

DiSalvo told Khan to apply for time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act — also known as FMLA — but said that he could only grant him five days because of the airline’s supervisor shortage and tight schedule, the suit reads.

Khan’s application for FMLA and disability benefits, through the state of New York, was approved for five days — after which he returned to work, according to the lawsuit.

The following month, Khan, who often talked about his wife’s cancer treatment with DiSalvo and his other supervisors, asked for time off for his wife’s second surgery, which he wasn’t granted, records show.

From that point forward, DiSalvo began rejecting Khan’s requests for time off, the suit reads.

Then, in September, Khan told DiSalvo he was planning to apply for FMLA unpaid leave and paid state disability leave.

On Sept. 27, after that conversation, DiSalvo told Khan he was being terminated, and asked him to write up a termination contract — which Khan refused to do, instead reminding his supervisor that he was going to apply for FMLA leave because of his wife’s illness. DiSalvo told him to “try and find a way to deal with it because many people go through the same [situation],” the lawsuit reads.

Khan never signed a termination agreement and was never told he was being unilaterally fired. Instead American Airlines took away his access to the airport facilities, the suit contends.

American Airlines was covered under the FMLA, and according to the legislation Khan was eligible for leave — he’d been working at the company for three years, had to care for his sick wife, and gave the American Airline enough notice about his time off request.

Citing the airline’s failure to grant him time off — despite his protections under FMLA and the Americans with Disabilities Act — Khan is suing American Airlines for lost wages and benefits as well as damages. An exact amount will be determined at trial, the suit reads.