A WestJet flight attendant has contacted CTV News with a new and troubling allegation of pilot sexual abuse, as the airline’s CEO responds to the growing scandal.
The woman, who remains a WestJet employee and asked not to be named to protect her job, said she was on a layover in Honolulu when a pilot entered her hotel room, took off his pants, and chased her.
He left, but only after she ran onto the balcony and refused to come back inside, according to the alleged victim.
She told CTV News she reported the incident to WestJet, and the company responded by changing her schedule so she would no longer have to work with him.
She marks the eighth woman who has come forward alleging she’s been sexually assaulted or harassed since Wednesday, when CTV News broke the story of former flight attendant Mandalena Lewis’s lawsuit against the airline.
On Friday, WestJet CEO Gregg Saretsky posted a response to Lewis’s allegations on the company’s website that was addressed to both customers and employees.
“I am the accountable executive directly responsible for the safety and well-being of our more than 11,000 employees, which is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” Saretsky wrote.
“Investigations did take place on these matters and they were subsequently closed. We are reviewing the investigations to ensure they were diligently carried out, and no new information has come to light since the investigations were undertaken six years ago.”
The company is “accommodating” those affected by the allegations by taking them off active duty, Saretsky added.
The CEO went on to deny a claim that WestJet has fired workers for trying to organize a union drive, which was made by former flight attendant Daniel Kufuor-Boakye on Thursday.
In the wake of this week’s allegations, an online petition was created calling on Saretsky to step down. It had been signed almost 16,000 times by Friday evening.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s St. John Alexander
