Dear Martin: I am sure you worked hard and had the best interests of America West foremost in mind, but this is just wrong, buddy. You can't do this stuff....


What's more, suing the airlines doesn't make you the brightest bulb on the tree. See, when you signed the form in 1995 about not using your company PC for anything "sexual in nature" and then you did, well, that kinda put a crimp in your argument.
Apparently, you didn't read the memo. But circulating racy email messages to co-workers and a supervisor, including "Five Ways to Hypnotize a Man," depicting a voluptuous woman gyrating her naked breasts in five different directions and "How to Get Men to Read the Sexual Harassment Policy," depicting a woman in a translucent tank top, simply isn't what the company has in mind when it comes to sharing.
Maybe you didn't think anyone would notice. Or maybe you thought everyone would find this stuff hilarious and recognize what a solid guy you are. Hey, you might have even thought your efforts to educate co-workers about sexual harassment was worthy of a promotion, or at least an employee of the month award. I mean, geez, you practically established the bounderies for what not to do.
I guess America West just doesn't see it that way. Especially after they found the email in your in-box from two years earlier titled "Wicked Weasel," showing scantily clad women with nipples, pubic hair and genitalia visible. (Wicked Weasel is an Australian manufacturer of skimpy bikinis. Oh, those wacky Australians.) I think that is when America West decided you weren't a good fit.
But you're no dummy. You know your rights. So you filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination because you have multiple sclerosis; therefore, you figured, your firing violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Besides, everybody was doing it...everybody saw it. Naked pictures of women are de rigueur in the workplace. Yes, Martin, but your pictures were special. Just ask America West's managers.
They found that "after reviewing the frontal nudity depicted in the (Wicked Weasel email) and comparing them to the emails sent by other members of your department, none of which contained frontal nudity and most of which contained no nudity at all, (we) made the determination to terminate (the Wicked Weasel offenders) and to provide progressive counseling to the other affected members of the department."
Anyway, even though the judge agreed that the climate within America West proved uncomfortable for women, he didn't quite understand how MS made you do it.
Now, all of this happened several years ago, and I hope you are well. I suspect that you received a thank you from America West for bringing all this to their attention. Today, I suspect the locker room mentality at the airlines has been cleaned up, and women are now treated as equals, which I hope doesn't mean they are required to send naked pictures of men to their co-workers. Yikes. Who wants to see that?
In closing, I have a few questions. I'm just curious. Did you really think women would find pictures of other women being demeaned funny? Have you been living in a cave, man? Maybe you missed the memo about showing respect and dignity in the workplace. And, oh yeah, did anyone ever mention the personal responsibility thing in your presence?
Well, in closing Martin, I am sure you don't miss those long hours, what with trying to get your job done around all the sexual harassing you had to do.
Best wishes,
Lewis