By Kim Hyun-bin



Four former Delta employees are suing Delta Airlines for firing them for speaking Korean at the workplace.



Lilian Park, Kim Ji-won, Jean Yi and An Jong-jin are all of Korean descent and have a combined 50 years experience working at the desk and gate for Delta at the Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle.



They regularly dealt with passengers bound for South Korea.



"The Korean passengers were glad to see me. They say, 'Oh I feel so comfortable. You know, they don't speak English," Yi told KIRO 7.



"I treated all Delta passengers as my family, brothers and sisters, parents. Everything came from the heart," said Park.



Three of the women are now U.S. citizens and claim their Korean language ability was one of the reasons they were hired by the airline. However, they now believe their skills have become the primary reason for their termination in May 2017.



An claimed her manager said there were complaints by non-Korean speaking agents who felt uncomfortable and wanted Korean speaking to be limited. However, the women claim no other foreign employees were given the same instructions.



They also say the firing is a retaliatory move as they filed a complaint for sexual harassment against another Delta employee.



The group says they were harassed several times by the person while on duty. Yi told KIRO 7 that she avoided him as much as possible.



"When he came to the gate, I just moved out of sight. I didn't want to deal with him touching, or whispering," she said.



Park concurred and added it was a daily affair.



Park and Yi both reported the incidents to their supervisor but they claim no measures were taken to resolve the issue.



"That agent is still working there and the touching has not stopped," Jennifer Song, the women's attorney, told KIRO 7. "We also suspect that their termination is related to the reporting of sexual harassment."



The women were suspended and ultimately terminated for allegedly offering unauthorized upgrades, according to the lawsuit.



The women claim upgrades are common practice among agents, but they were the only ones fired for the act.



"Offering free upgrades, especially on an oversold flight, is a common practice, but suddenly, it became a reason to be terminated, just for us, for Korean women," Kim said.



Delta released a statement soon after the news broke.



"Delta does not tolerate workplace discrimination or harassment of any kind. Such behavior runs counter to our core values of diversity and inclusion and our mission of connecting the world," said the airline.



"We take allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination very seriously and our investigations into allegations made by these former employees were found to be without merit. These former employees were unfortunately but appropriately terminated because the company determined they violated ticketing and fare rules. Delta is confident that these claims will ultimately be determined to be without merit."

