2 veteran United flight attendants won $800,000 in a lawsuit after a supervisor made an absurd claim about iPads

Scott Olson / Getty Images

United has struggled to rehabilitate its image over the past year.

• Two United Airlines flight attendants sued the airline after they were fired in September 2013.
• They've been awarded $800,000 in damages, and their attorney thinks that number could rise.
• He claimed that during the trial, a United supervisor said lighting a fire in an airplane bathroom was as bad as one of the reasons Lee and Stroup were fired - watching a video on an iPad for 15 minutes.

Ruben Lee and Jeanne Stroup had worked as flight attendants for United Airlines for over 70 combined years when they were fired in September 2013.

Neither had received a single customer complaint or been disciplined at any point during their time with the airline, according to a lawsuit they filed against United, but when a supervisor observed them watching a video on an iPad for 15 minutes and neglecting to wear aprons when serving passengers on a September 2013 flight from Denver to San Francisco, the airline decided to let them go.

Now, Lee and Stroup have been awarded $800,000 in damages, and David Lane, the duo's attorney, thinks that number could rise, according to Westword.

Lane believes United has no guidelines for matching employee misbehavior to an appropriate punishment, and he told Westword about an alleged exchange during the trial that may have helped sway the jury toward Lee and Stroup's side.

While questioning a United supervisor, Lane reportedly called the reasons for Lee and Stroup's firing "pretty ticky-tacky."

The supervisor disagreed, to which Lane replied, "For example, watching an iPad for a few minutes is certainly less serious than lighting a campfire in the bathroom of a flight when it's at 35,000 feet."

"No, I disagree with that," the supervisor reportedly said.

After Lane asked the supervisor if he thought "lighting a campfire in the bathroom is as serious as watching an iPad for a few minutes," the supervisor reportedly said, "Yes."

The trial's resolution couldn't come at a worse time for United, which has struggled to rehabilitate its image in the year since it sparked a public relations nightmare by dragging a passenger off an overbooked flight. Last week, the airline had three dog-related mishaps that resulted in the death of one dog and two being placed on incorrect flights.

United did not immediately respond to a request for comment.