Belcastro v. United Airlines, Inc.

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

Plaintiff sued Defendants United Airlines, Inc. ("United") and James Simons, raising, as relevant here, claims for race discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ("Title VII"), and for defamation and tortious interference with employment under Illinois state law. Before the Court is the remaining portion of Defendants' Motion to Compel Documents Improperly Withheld on the Basis of Privilege, [dkt. 191], specifically Defendants' request for documents over which Plaintiff has claimed an employee-union representative privilege, and the parties' requests for fees under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37. For the reasons explained below, Defendants' motion to compel is denied in part and granted in part, and the parties' requests for fees are denied.

RELEVANT BACKGROUND

The following allegations [*2]  are drawn from Plaintiff's amended complaint. [Dkt. 54, Am. Compl.] In April 2015, United hired Plaintiff Christopher Belcastro as a First Officer pilot with his first 12 months as a "probationary period." While working for United, Plaintiff was a member of the Airline Pilots Association, International (the "Association") and participated in union activities. On March 3, 2016, United's crew scheduling department designated Plaintiff as "Unable to Contact" after they could not reach him about a reserve day flying assignment. Plaintiff asked the Association to help overturn the designation, explaining that crew scheduling had never called him after midnight to confirm his assignment. The Association succeeded in getting crew scheduling to remove the designation, but Defendant Chief Pilot James Simons later had it reinstated. On March 17, Simons met with Plaintiff and told him that his "probationary pilot reports" were "outstanding," but that he would receive a "Letter of Counsel" for the designation.

On March 25, Simons met privately with Plaintiff and asked him to sign a letter of resignation, explaining that if he declined he would have to go through the termination process. During [*3]  the meeting, Simons, who is Black, allegedly commented to Plaintiff, who is White, that he did not know why United hired pilots like Plaintiff and that his "Black friend who flies Air Force One would love to be a pilot at United but, for some reason, hasn't gotten hired yet." After consulting with his union representative, Plaintiff signed the resignation letter. United allegedly later posted a snapshot of Plaintiff's personnel file, indicating that he had been terminated, on a popular pilot website. Defendants largely deny these allegations of wrongdoing. [Dkt. 57, Ans. to Am. Compl.]

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