Gender Discrimination: Female Pilot Too Short to Fly the Phenom is Fired and Male Pilots Too Tall are Reassigned

The company hired Drerup in 2015 to fly the Phenom aircraft, a light jet aircraft with the capacity to carry up to 11. The company publicly claims this plane is one of the finest small, private jets in the industry. While Drerup was in training it became obvious that she could not fly the Phenom because her legs were too short to reach the pedals. Drerup claims that NetJets responded by advising her to buy a booster seat or wear platform shoes…whatever she needed to do to make it work. Drerup does not argue the fact that she cannot fly the Phenom, she admits she is too short to do so. She claims she even advised her trainers of this fact as well as letting them know that she was trained and rated to pilot five other types of aircraft, including the Cessna which NetJets actively uses in their operations.

When Drerup attended a meeting the next day, she expected to be transferred to another airplane. Instead she was given a termination letter, they took her badge, her credit cards, her iPad, and her cellphone. She claims they treated her like a criminal. To make the entire situation worse, Drerup claims that three male co-workers were transferred to other planes because they had the exact opposite issue piloting the Phenom, they were too tall.

If you are experiencing discrimination in the workplace, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP. Our employment law attorneys have the resources and experience companies fear in litigation.