Haskins v. Trans World Airlines

Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA) (defendant) decided to terminate all its skycap employees, most of whom were Black, and to use independent contractors to provide skycap services to TWA’s passengers. However, TWA initiated its plan only at its Albuquerque and Tulsa locations. In addition, TWA put the skycap employees at those airports on a mandatory, unpaid leave of absence, i.e., a furlough, and did not actually terminate any of the skycaps. However, facing unpaid leave and possible termination, five of the Albuquerque skycaps voluntarily quit and formed a business to provide skycap work to TWA as independent contractors. TWA then decided not to follow through with its termination proposal. Instead, TWA chose to wait for skycaps to leave their positions for other reasons and to slowly bring in independent contractors to fill the positions left open by the departures. A group of Black skycap employees (plaintiffs) sued TWA, arguing that its decision to terminate all the skycaps was racially discriminatory in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Two of the five Albuquerque skycaps who had quit (plaintiffs) were plaintiffs in the lawsuit. However, for the next 12 years, TWA did not implement its initial mass-termination plan and continued to fill skycap positions with independent contractors only if the existing employees left for other reasons. The district court found that TWA’s voluntary act of abandoning its allegedly unlawful mass-termination plan mooted all of the employees’ claims and dismissed the lawsuit. The employees appealed.