A Southwest Airlines flight attendant who says exposure to pet dander leaves her “violently ill” has filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against the carrier, alleging the airline required her to work flights where cats and dogs were present in the cabin despite her severe allergy.
Lisa Patterson, a Chicago-based Southwest employee for more than 25 years, said her condition became a workplace concern after the airline introduced a policy allowing small domesticated dogs and cats to travel onboard in 2018, according to a lawsuit obtained by Paddle Your Own Kanoo.
Roughly a year after the policy began, Patterson contacted a company supervisor to request a workplace accommodation. In her complaint, she said coming into contact with animals in the cabin could trigger a “severe illness.”
The supervisor ultimately told her several months later that Southwest could not provide an accommodation, the lawsuit states. Patterson alleges that continued exposure to pet dander caused her to experience “difficulty breathing” while on duty.
Southwest eventually introduced measures for employees with pet allergies in 2021. Patterson contends, however, that the available choices were impractical and did not offer a meaningful solution for a flight attendant with her level of sensitivity.
Under the airline’s options, crew members could try to exchange assignments or flights with colleagues to avoid carrying pets—or stay home and forfeit their pay, according to the complaint.
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Patterson said arranging such swaps was often difficult because other employees were reluctant to trade assignments with her. She also allegedly struggled to locate flights that did not include animals in the cabin.
The lawsuit further claims that Patterson asked Southwest supervisors to place pets in parts of the aircraft where she would not be working, but that those suggestions were dismissed.
Patterson alleges that Southwest’s handling of her allergy either cost her “substantial revenue” when she could not work or left her so sick after flights with pets that she required expensive medical care, according to the suit.
She argues that the airline’s failure to provide a reasonable accommodation amounted to disability discrimination.
Patterson is seeking compensation for lost wages, benefits and seniority, along with coverage of her legal fees.
Southwest Airlines had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
