Sexual harassment lawyer sues over rejected airport ad, now has a massive billboard
A lawyer sued an upstate New York airport after it rejected a sexual harassment classified ad from her law firm. Now she has a huge sign there.
Megan Thomas signed a contract last summer for advertising at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. She wanted to read: “When HR called it harmless flirting…we called it Exhibit A,” but the airport asked her to soften the “harsh” wording.
Instead, she filed a complaint. Now the ad is finally out, with the wording intact – and much bigger than it had originally planned.
Two walls of the travel center are adorned with the large pink ad, as well as a huge photo of Thomas, Syracuse.com first reported.
“When the airport told me the First Amendment didn’t apply and they could do whatever they wanted, I realized I would have to take legal action,” Thomas said this week. “I understood that if I won this battle, it would protect not only my rights, but also those of other women who come after me. »
Thomas said she intentionally chose to advertise at the airport because many of her clients had reported being sexually harassed during work trips. She also wanted it to be placed in a prominent place.
In his federal lawsuit filed in August, Thomas said the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority, which operates the airport, approved a draft version of his announcement. But the next day, she said, authorities told her the ad was not approved and that the slogan was “considered a bit harsh.”
In a follow-up call, Thomas said he was told that airport authority leaders believed the proposed ad could be seen as “threatening” or “intimidating” to men. And the next day, an official said the ad would not air due to concerns about negative comments from community members and that local politicians might find it offensive, according to his complaint.
In court documents, lawyers for the SRAA said the authority proposed alternative slogans “that conveyed a similar message in a more professional and less misleading and derogatory manner.”
A judge disagreed with their assessment of the slogan, saying in a preliminary ruling in January that the authority’s assertion was “absurd.”
Judge Anthony Brindisi said Thomas’ slogan was no more misleading than a Chick-fil-A airport ad featuring a cow and that the phrase “Chikin 4 Din Makez U Grin” suggested “that chicken dinners will always make a person happy, or that cows can talk.”
The two sides reached a confidential settlement shortly after the judge’s decision. The new, larger ad was released a few weeks ago.
Thomas — who also has another, smaller listing at the airport — says calls to her Syracuse-based firm have “increased significantly” since the sign was put up, noting that she has hired another attorney and plans to hire another office worker to help her.
In a statement released Tuesday, the SRAA called the judge’s decision “unfortunate” but said the settlement “allows both parties to return their focus to their core objectives while preserving the authority’s ability to manage and operate the airport.”
