Pregnant airport security worker loses home in fight to avoid fumes
New York NY October 30 2018 A pregnant airport worker’s effort to get away from airplanes’ noxious fumes cost her a home and her income.
Symone Ellis of Queens found herself dealing with a high-risk pregnancy after she started working for aviation security firm Global Elite Group at Kennedy Airport in April.
Fearing the effects of airplane exhaust, Ellis asked to be reassigned. Instead, starting July 25, the company suspended the soon-to-be mother of two from her $13.50-per-hour job
That cost Ellis and her 6-year-old daughter their apartment in Springfield Gardens. They’ve had to stay at a homeless shelter and a friend’s place in the meantime.
It took a call to the city Human Rights Commission to get her back on Global Security’s schedule, she said.
“We do a lot to make sure the airport…is safe for all the travelers,” Ellis said. “I don’t think I should have had to go through all of this just for them to put me back on the schedule.”
Ellis, who checks ID badges and makes sure air cargo is going to the right places, is the second pregnant airport worker to tell the Daily News about efforts to get away from work exposed to aircraft exhaust.
“I don’t want it to happen to anyone else,” said Ellis, who is due in November. “It shouldn’t happen. We have rights.”
Shakira Lewis, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Global Elite who also complained to the Human Rights Commission, told The News in July of how she was retaliated against for seeking a transfer to a job away from aircraft fumes.
“I could relate,” Ellis said after seeing Lewis’ story in the News.
The union trying to organize at Global Elite — 32BJ SEIU — says it’s reasonable for pregnant airport workers to ask to be temporarily reassigned to jobs that keep them away from toxic fumes.
“They should accommodate that,” Rob Hill, the organizing director at 32BJ SEIU, said. “It’s a decent human thing to do, besides being the law.”
Human Rights Commission spokesman Seth Hoy declined to comment specifically on Ellis’s case — but noted that denial of reasonable accommodation is illegal gender discrimination. The commission is investigating more than 40 cases of pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.
“We are currently working with the NYC Human Rights Commission on its investigation, which we cannot comment on at this time,” said Global Elite spokesman Casey Sherman. “Global Elite Group values the health and well being of our team members and their rights and safety will continue to be our top priorities.”
