Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has been named in a lawsuit claiming he gave a job to a woman half his age despite her being unqualified because they were “in a romantic relationship.”
The 82-year-old billionaire is being accused of hiring the woman to work on his private jet while forcing two other stewardesses to work unpaid overtime to pick up her slack.
The stewardesses, Adele Pearson and Samantha Carlise, are suing Blank, claiming they weren’t paid overtime after working grueling shifts on the latter’s luxury jet.
The suit notes staff members were part of “a dysfunctional and poorly run business unit that hired and retained incompetent employees solely because they had sexual relationships with Blank or supervisors.”
Arthur Blank Accused Of Falsifying Time Records
According to Business Insider, documents filed in Atlanta federal court on October 18 name 42-year-old Christie Buice as the lover who was hired by Blank’s family office, AMBFO.
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Buice is said to have “provided only limited support,” with AMBFO allowing her to be “scheduled on flights only if Blank was the only person traveling on the aircraft.”
Pearson and Carlisle are claiming that, due to the above, they were “regularly required to work far more than 40 hours per week due to their heavy workload” as they were “regularly required” to “cover up [Buice’s] deficiencies and handle the vast majority of the flights for AMBFO.”
They also accuse the company of hiring another employee who was “similarly incapable of performing her duties” and was involved “in a romantic relationship with the director of aviation.”
Per the suit, Pearson and Carlisle were paid annual wages of $160,000 and “approximately $158,000” last year, respectively, and worked 26 days a month for several months.
They claim AMBFO falsified records to make it look like they both had eight days off a month while they were “bombarded” with text messages and phone calls from Blank’s family about travel planning on their days off.
