A former NetJets employee is suing the Columbus-based aviation company after she said she was fired because she was too short to fly one of the company's planes.

Shari Drerup of Alexandria, Louisiana, accuses the company of violating the U.S. Civil Rights Act and Ohio anti-discrimination law by firing her in March 2017.

According to the suit, Drerup was hired as a pilot in December, 2016, in NetJets' Louisiana facility. After passing the initial flight test, Drerup "struggled to maintain control" of an Embraer Phenom 300 plane during a flight simulation. Her instructor told her she was too short, at 5 feet 2 inches, to properly control the rudders.

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Drerup said she bought shoes with thicker soles and back pads to get closer to the rudder, but acknowledged that during a test on Feb. 28, 2017 she "was unable to push the full rudder to the floor simply because her legs were not long enough."

The next day, Drerup was fired.

Drerup's suit contends that three other NetJets workers, all men, were determined to be too tall to operate the Phenom but were assigned to other aircraft. Drerup said she, too, was able to fly other NetJets aircraft but was not given the same opportunity.

"NetJets treated similarly situated male pilots more favorably than (Drerup) by transferring them to different aircraft," according to the suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

The suit seeks reinstatement, lost pay and punitive damages for pain and suffering.

The suit was filed by Dublin attorney Laren Knoll and by prominent Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who held a news conference with Drerup to announce the suit.

"In my opinion, this constitutes sex discrimination and is clearly a double standard for male and female pilots," Allred said in a statement.

Allred said that according to Drerup, 71 of NetJet's 2,700 pilots are women.

NetJets did not return a call seeking comment.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker

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