36-year worker claims airline used his EEOC charge to stall his union hearing — and worse
A 36-year Air Canada employee says the airline blocked his union hearing, cut his benefits during hospitalization, and backdated his firing after he went to the EEOC.
That, in short, is the story John Brent O'Dea wants a federal jury to hear. In a 14-count lawsuit filed May 19, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (O'Dea v. Air Canada, No. 1:26-cv-01706), the 58-year-old gay man — an Air Canada employee since November 1990 — says the carrier turned on him the moment he raised discrimination concerns, and then moved to push him out just eight months before he qualified for full retirement.
The filing accuses Air Canada of retaliation and sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII, interference with ERISA-protected benefits, FMLA interference, workers' compensation retaliation, breach of the collective bargaining agreement, unpaid wages, and common-law fraud tied to what O'Dea describes as a backdated termination letter.
For HR readers, the most striking piece of the case is the paper trail O'Dea says he has. According to the filing, on January 29, 2026, his lawyer told Air Canada in writing that he was asserting EEO violations, including anti-gay bias. A standing settlement offer, the filing says, vanished the same day. Thirteen days later, he was placed on Suspension Pending Discharge.
Then came the email O'Dea's lawsuit characterizes as an admission of...
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