Not on his watch!
A newly hired — and then fired — JetBlue pilot is suing the budget airline claiming his training instructor showed him a saucy snapshot of himself naked and wearing only a watch, and then gave him a failing mark when the seasoned aviator rebuffed his advances.
Mark Peterson of Tennessee traveled to New York in the fall of 2015 and was immediately hired as a first officer and sent to Orlando for training, according to court papers filed Friday in Brooklyn federal court.
There, instructor Alfred Ortiz asked Peterson if he was interested in men or women, which left Peterson feeling “extremely uncomfortable,” the suit says.
Shorty after, Ortiz asked his student if he wanted to see a picture of his watch. Not wanting to be rude to his superior, Peterson agreed and was shown a cellphone snap of a watch on the otherwise naked body of Ortiz.
“The picture was extremely vulgar and displayed a picture of Ortiz, nude, wearing a watch located directly next to his exposed penis and testicles,” the lawsuit said.
“Do you like my watch?” Ortiz then whispered to Peterson.
“Mark likes my watch,” he said to another employee, according to the suit.
Later that day Ortiz allegedly rubbed Peterson’s neck and shoulders and then grabbed and squeezed his left arm and stated, “You liked my watch, didn’t you?” the suit says.
Peterson said he told Ortiz that his behavior was “unwelcomed and inappropriate” and told him to stop.
Several days later, Peterson was given a poor performance review and had to meet about the issue with a committee, and he told the panel he did not get along with Ortiz, the lawsuit states.
On Jan. 4, 2016, Ortiz allegedly failed Peterson from the program. Peterson took his claims of sexual harassment to HR, where he was allegedly told that although Ortiz admitted to showing him picture of his penis and testicles, he was to be terminated anyway.