A baggage handler for an American Airlines subsidiary claims she and other employees of color were subjected to ongoing bigotry by white coworkers who, among other things, mocked the death of George Floyd, quoted racist lines from Django Unchained while wearing ersatz KKK hoods, and hung a noose in a luggage sorting area, according to a federal lawsuit reviewed by The Independent.

Niena Allen, who spent four years at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport working for Piedmont Airlines, a regional carrier owned by American that operates as American Eagle, alleges in her complaint that no disciplinary action was ever taken against the perpetrators, and that Black employees were punished for minor infractions and white employees were not.

The complaint says the “racially hostile work environment” caused Allen “emotional distress and fear for her safety,” and that those coworkers behind it “are still employed… at Sky Harbor, creating a racially hostile work environment.”

A spokesperson for Piedmont and American did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Attorney Dan Raynak, who is representing Allen, declined to comment, citing active litigation.

Allen began working for Piedmont in 2021 as a ramp agent, according to the complaint. She died last June at the age of 42, but her lawsuit remains active via a representative for her estate.

The allegations included in Allen’s complaint first emerged in December 2025, when she initially filed suit in Arizona state court with multiple co-workers over the purported racism at Sky Harbor. They have now reemerged as Allen’s case has been split off from the others on administrative grounds and refiled August 12 in Phoenix federal court.

According to Allen, racism on the job was “tacitly and/or actively approved by, or at least tolerated by” Piedmont management.

One incident detailed in the complaint occurred in 2023, when a pair of white supervisors allegedly posted a photo on a bulletin board in the office hallway, of them “reenacting the murder” of George Floyd, a Black man who was choked to death by a white police officer in Minneapolis. His death sparked worldwide protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Several employees, including [Allen], made complaints… regarding the racially hostile and obscene photograph,” the complaint states. “As a result, the two (2) supervisors that were in the photograph were terminated.”

However, the complaint contends, a third supervisor who took and posted the picture was not reprimanded for his role, and subsequently promoted.

Early last year, one of Allen’s colleagues reported a white employee to management for allegedly helping white colleagues with lifting heavy luggage, but not Black ones, according to the complaint.

The manager – who was also white – said she was “aware” of what was going on in the oversize baggage area and advised the aggrieved employee to “just ignore it,” the complaint states.

A short time later, the complaint alleges a noose was found hanging in the oversize luggage area.

“The area where the noose was found did not have any cameras at that time,” according to the complaint.

It says Allen and “many” others spoke up about the noose, but that Piedmont “failed to properly investigate the incident,” and disciplined no one.

Other issues emerged in the American Airlines “mainline” breakroom, which certain Piedmont employees – including Allen – used regularly, as their dedicated breakroom was located far away from the tarmac, the complaint continues.

“Because… Piedmont is a wholly owned subsidiary of… American… Piedmont’s employees are permitted to utilize the mainline breakroom,” the complaint states. “Throughout [Allen’s] employment, [she] experienced racial hostility in the mainline breakroom.”

In one instance, a white American Airlines employee aggressively confronted a Piedmont ramp agent, who was Black, cooling off with a drink of water in the mainline break room, the complaint goes on.

He stated that he was “sick of seeing” her there, that she did “not belong here,” and called her a “raghead” without any repercussions, according to the complaint. This, it claims, perpetuated further hostilities in the mainline breakroom, with one directly involving Allen.

In February 2025, Allen was in the mainline breakroom when she witnessed “several Caucasian employees” quoting from Quentin Tarantino’s Civil War-era film, Django Unchained.

“The Caucasian employees were laughing and quoting lines in the movie that were racist and/or said by slave owners,” the complaint states.

The N-word is used so many times in the movie, it reportedly unnerved co-star Jamie Foxx, who is Black.

The complaint says Allen notified her managers, who told her to go back to the mainline break room and take a picture of the employees in question. When she returned, Allen spotted one of the white employees was now wearing a bag on his head, “in such a manner as to suggest that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan,” according to the complaint.

Nothing ever happened to those responsible, who are all still employed and working at Sky Harbor, the complaint says.

The discrimination manifests in assorted other ways, as well, Allen’s complaint maintains.

For one, white workers are not reprimanded for “serious and dangerous incidents including, but not limited to, crashing a Piedmont vehicle on the tarmac at Sky Harbor,” while Black employees “are reprimanded, disciplined, and/or terminated for far less egregious conduct,” according to the complaint.

American Airlines has faced allegations of discrimination in previous lawsuits by both passengers and employees.

In 2025, a group of former pilot trainees who identified as Black, Latino and Asian sued American over claims the carrier provided them fewer professional opportunities than it did for whites, graded them more harshly, insulted them, and steered them into unnecessary remedial courses.

"I had picked up everything I've known, a secure job, a high-paying secure job as an accountant to pursue the dream of becoming a pilot," a Black trainee told KERA News, a Texas NPR affiliate. "And here I am, halfway through it, a thousand dollars in debt and I'm being threatened every day of being released or being nixed for minor mistakes my white counterparts were not being nixed for. Is anybody going to believe me when I say there are huge differences between the training that people of color are receiving compared to my white counterpart?”

The year before, American was sued by a group of Black travelers who said they were thrown off their flight because a white flight attendant claimed they had “body odor.”

The suit was quickly settled, with the airline saying it was “committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment to all customers.”

Passengers Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal responded in a joint statement: “We are very pleased that American Airlines took our complaint seriously and we hope that this never happens to Black passengers or any other people of color again. Our goal in speaking out has always been to create change. We are proud that we used our voices to make a difference in the lives of Black Americans.”

In 2017, a Black woman who had purchased a First Class ticket sued after she was sent to the back of the plane due to alleged overbooking, while her white travel partner was allowed to remain up front.

Rane Baldwin called the episode “the most blatantly racist thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I’ve never felt so unimportant in my entire life,” she told The Root.

Things at one point got so bad, the NAACP warned Black fliers that “booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them to disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions.”

Allen’s complaint says American’s “actions and inaction” in the face of alleged workplace racism caused her “emotional distress,” “inconvenience,” “humiliation,” “loss of standing among her peers,” and “stress.”

Her estate is now seeking a court judgment that American Airlines violated U.S. civil rights laws, and is demanding compensatory damages, plus pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, as well as attorneys’ fees and court costs.

An amended complaint from Allen’s estate is due to be filed Friday.