A United Airlines employee was fired after a private conversation with another employee was overheard by a passenger who then complained to the airline via X, formerly known as Twitter.
Fired over faith?
Ruben D. Sanchez Jr has been working for 
United Airlines
as a flight attendant for 28 years. His tenure abruptly ended after a passenger overheard a private conversation with another employee about his faith and his personal views on LGBTQIA individuals.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The incident occurred on May 31st last year when Sanchez was working onboard a redeye flight from Los Angeles to Cleveland. Sanchez was having difficulty staying awake, as the flight was assigned at the last minute. In an attempt to stay awake, the 52-year-old began conversing with a fellow flight attendant about their shared faith, Catholicism.
According to the New York Post, Sanchez said they spoke about how Pride Month began the next day and how it is a “big deal at United.” In Sanchez’s own words, the airline “has all these things about Pride, with Pride flags everywhere” and “drag-queen DJs” playing music in United’s Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX).
According to Sanchez, the conversation was innocent and was just a way of staying awake. Here’s the part of the conversation with which the anonymous tweeter took issue. Sanchez recalled:
“I said, ‘You know, as Catholics, we’re not really supposed to be observing Pride. The church will never believe that men give birth, women have penises, or that the church should bless same-sex marriages because marriage is a sacrament, and it’s not meant for two men or two women or three people or whatever.’ That’s all I said.”
Photo: Alexandre Rotenberg | Shutterstock
However, Sanchez alleges that the tweet that got him fired was untrue. It claimed that Sanchez ‘hated all black people’ and that he was ‘proudly anti-trans,’ which is false, according to the employee.
Investigation and dismissal
United suspended Sanchez with pay while it investigated the unsubstantiated Twitter complaint and while a superior combed through his Twitter history. The search revealed that Sanchez had joked about the plights of plus-size people and tweeted problematic statements about “removing” the transgender triangle from the Pride flag. In addition, Sanchez posted dissenting opinions about climate change.
According to the airline, one of Sanchez’s Twitter posts of him and another United pilot went viral, allowing the airline to connect his private social media account with his work. His posts were found to be in violation of United’s policies, and he was let go.
Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock
Unfortunately for Sanchez, his union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
(AFA), didn’t take his side in the matter, although they did represent him initially. Sanchez is fighting to regain his job because he is “too young to retire and too old to start anew.”
Sachez has been in arbitration with the airline and has racked up legal fees. He unsuccessfully tried to raise roughly $15,000 to pay them. He has now begun a GoFundMe campaign for $18,000, which will be used to help him continue legal proceedings.
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