FEDERAL COURT, July 27 – On June 24
in the District of Colorado Magistrate Judge N. Reid
Neureiter sustained Inner City Press's objections to
sealing in Jones v. United Airlines, ordering redacted
public versions of 29 exhibits refiled by July 17.
United and the plaintiff both complied on
time. Inner City Press did not find out. Never deemed a
formal party to the case, Inner City Press received no ECF
notice when either side's filings went in, and the
documents did not surface on CourtListener. Only when
defense counsel answered Inner City Press' July 24 inquiry
on July 27 did Inner City Press learn the filings existed
— and only then paid, out of pocket, for records that a
court had already ordered made public weeks earlier.
What the documents show was worth the wait,
and the cost. One set of internal United emails concerns
plaintiff Antonio Jones's own complaint, in December 2020,
that he was tired of "this racism bullshit in Colorado,"
directed at a supervisor over a workplace dispute.
United's Senior Manager of Harassment and
Discrimination Investigations, weighing whether to open a
case, wrote to a colleague that after a supervisor asked
Jones directly, repeatedly, whether he felt discriminated
against, and Jones ultimately said no, "I'd be hard
pressed to move forward" with an investigation — with the
colleague's reply: "Understood and agree."
A separate and more serious incident
surfaces in a different exhibit: a noose, fashioned from a
white extension cord, found hanging in a Denver breakroom
near gate 44 in November 2020. Internal United
communications describe employees present, including two
named Black employees, stating they "felt the item was
left for all of them to see" because of their race.
One United manager's text message called it
"an occasional makeshift noose," prompting a reply: "Wtf??
can't make this shit up, bro. Addressing this shit now
with management." The case was referred to HR the same
day.
A third document, the deposition of
United's own 30(b)(6) corporate witness on discipline
policy, Paula Reppas, describes United's "progressive
discipline" system — documented, verbal, written warning,
termination warning, termination — and a review panel,
largely redacted in the transcript as privileged, that
signs off on termination-level discipline across cities
"to make sure we're consistent."
Judge Neureiter's order, and the access
fight that produced it, exist so that the public can see
records like these without having to guess whether a
defendant complied, or find out by accident, weeks late,
that it did. Inner City Press has asked and asks all
counsel to ensure it receives notice of future filings
going forward. Watch this site.