Sexual Assault Rampant Among JFK Air France Workers In 1990s: Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY — Air France turned a blind eye to rampant predatory sexual misconduct among its workers at JFK Airport during the 1990s and early 2000s, a new lawsuit contends.

A woman filed a civil complaint in Manhattan Wednesday that accuses four men who worked for Air France of kissing, groping and sexually assaulting her over the course of years.

Such "outrageously abusive, predatory sexual behavior" sprang up either by Air France's negligence or indifference, the lawsuit argues.

"Defendant Air France was responsible for cultivating and maintaining a workplace culture and environment which permitted and promoted sexual harassment, assault, and abuse directed towards women, and particularly toward Plaintiff," the lawsuit states.

Air France representatives didn't return Patch's request for comment.

The woman's lawsuit against Air France is under New York's Adult Survivors Act, which provides a one-year window for victims of sexual assault to file complaints after the statute of limitations for such cases ends.

The filing notes that past whistleblowers claimed there was a "culture of sexual violence" at Air France in general.

The woman — who Patch is not identifying because she is an alleged victim of sexual assault — contends she experienced that culture firsthand when she started to work for Air France at JFK in April 1995.

One man, a baggage services manager for Air France, repeatedly sexually harassed and abused her in public spaces in the terminal, hallways and offices, the lawsuit states. Within months of the woman starting her job, the man cornered her in an elevator and sexually assaulted her, even as she shouted "No," "Stop," and "Get off of me," according to the lawsuit.

And even after she reported the assault, the woman had to interact with the man for three more years, the lawsuit states.

"Defendant’s management and supervisors were aware of (the man's) propensity to engage in inappropriate sexual misconduct amounting to harassment and assault of its female employees, and did nothing to stop it even after Plaintiff reported his behavior to Jane Doe," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit details other similar assaults and harassment by three more men employed by Air France.

The complaint, which accuses Air France of fostering a hostile work environment, seeks an unspecified amount of damages.