The billionaire proprietor of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons employed a girl half his age to work on his non-public jet whereas the pair have been “in a romantic relationship” — however she wasn’t certified for the job, and he allegedly pressured two different stewardesses to work unpaid extra time to choose up the slack, in line with an explosive lawsuit.
The household workplace of Arthur Clean — who made his fortune as co-founder of big-box retailer Dwelling Depot earlier than shopping for the Falcons in 2002 for $545 million — is being sued by two company flight attendants, Adele Pearson and Samantha Carlisle.
The pair allege they weren’t paid extra time after working lengthy, grueling hours on Clean’s luxurious plane partly as a result of the household workplace’s flight group “was a dysfunctional and poorly run business unit that hired and retained incompetent employees solely because they had sexual relationships with Blank or supervisors,” the swimsuit claims.
In line with the grievance filed on Oct. 18 in Atlanta federal courtroom, 82-year-old Clean, who’s thrice divorced and has six youngsters, was romantically concerned with 42-year-old Christie Buice, who was employed as a flight attendant by the mogul’s household workplace, AMBFO.
Buice “provided only limited support” as AMBFO “allowed her to be scheduled on flights only if Blank was the only person traveling on the aircraft,” it was alleged within the grievance, which was reported by Enterprise Insider and Law360.
In consequence, flight attendants Pearson and Carlisle alleged that they have been “regularly required to work far more than 40 hours per week due to their heavy workload” as a result of they have been “regularly required” to “cover up [Buice’s] deficiencies and handle the vast majority of the flights for AMBFO.”
The 2 flight attendants additionally alleged that AMBFO saved one other worker on the payroll who was “similarly incapable of performing her duties” whereas she was engaged “in a romantic relationship with the director of aviation.”
That flight attendant was “completely unqualified for her position” and her “hiring served only to increase Plaintiffs’ workload by both handling her duties and attempting to familiarize her with the company’s operations,” in line with the lawsuit.
Pearson and Carlisle additionally alleged that they needed to “perform various personal errands for Blank or his family members” on prime of their flight-related duties, together with dealing with dry cleansing and selecting eating places or resorts.’
Clean, whose web price was valued by Forbes at $9.3 billion as of Monday, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. The Submit has additionally sought remark from Buice and the opposite two staff talked about within the lawsuit.
Carlisle, who was employed by AMBFO in March 2022, informed her bosses in July of this yr that she was quitting.
Pearson was employed by January 2021. Her job standing is unclear. When reached by The Submit, an lawyer for Pearson declined to remark.
The 2 flight attendants, who alleged that they labored “in excess of 70 hours per week and” in some instances 90 hours per week, mentioned they voiced complaints that that they had “almost no personal time” and that “she could not continue to work the amount of hours that AMBFO regularly required her to work.”
In line with the lawsuit, Pearson and Carlisle have been final yr paid annual wages of $160,000 and “approximately $158,000,” respectively, and labored 26 days a month for a number of months.
The 2 flight attendants accused AMBFO of getting “falsified time records” to recommend that they each had eight days off a month. They alleged that on their days off they have been “bombarded” with textual content messages and cellphone calls from Clean’s household workplace about journey planning.
Information from JetSpy reveals he owns two non-public jets — a Bombardier World Categorical and a Bombardier World 7500.
