An attorney has sued an upstate New York airport after it rejected a small ad for her sexual harassment law firm. Now she has a huge sign there.
Megan Thomas signed a contract last summer to advertise at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. She wanted it to read: “When HR called it harmless flirtation…we called it Exhibit A,” but the airport asked her to tone down the “harsh” wording.
Instead, she filed a lawsuit. Now, the ad has finally been published, with the wording intact — and much larger than she originally intended.
Two walls of the travel center are adorned with large pink ads, as well as a huge photo of Thomas, Syracuse.com Reported for the first time.
“When the airport told me that the First Amendment didn’t apply and that they could do whatever they wanted, I knew I was going to need to file a lawsuit,” Thomas said this week. “I realized that if I won this fight, it would protect not only my rights, but the rights of other women who come after me as well.”
Thomas said she intentionally chose to advertise at the airport because many of her clients have reported experiencing sexual harassment on business trips. She also wanted it to be placed in a prominent area.
In the federal lawsuit she filed in August, Thomas said the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority, which runs the airport, approved a preliminary version of her declaration. But the next day, she said, the authority informed her that the ad had not been approved and that the slogan was “considered a bit harsh.”
During a follow-up call, Thomas said she was told that airport authority leadership believed the proposed ad might be viewed as a “threat” or “intimidation” to the men. The next day, an official said the ad would not run due to concerns about negative reactions from community members and that local politicians might find it offensive, according to her lawsuit.
In court documents, the agency’s lawyers said the agency offered alternative logos that “carry a similar message in a more professional, less misleading and disparaging manner.”
A The judge disagreed With their assessment of the logo, they said in a preliminary decision in January that the authority’s claim was “nonsense.”
Judge Anthony Brindisi said Thomas’ slogan was no more misleading than a Chick-fil-A airport ad featuring a cow and the phrase “Chikin 4 Din Makez U Grin” suggesting “that a chicken dinner will always make a person happy, or that cows can talk.”
The two sides reached a confidential settlement shortly after the judge’s ruling. The new, larger ad was rolled out a few weeks ago.
Thomas — who also has another, smaller ad at the airport — says calls to her Syracuse-based firm have been “pretty high” since the sign went up, noting that she has hired another attorney and plans to hire another employee in the office to help her.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the SRAA called the judge’s decision “unfortunate” but said the settlement “allows both parties to return focus to their core purposes while preserving the authority’s ability to manage and operate the airport.”