WestJet has agreed to pay CA$4.5 million (about US$3.2 million) to settle a decade-long class-action lawsuit brought by thousands of the airline's female flight attendants over workplace harassment. A British Columbia Supreme Court judge approved the settlement on August 10, 2026, moving a long-running legal fight closer to resolution.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2016 by former flight attendant Mandalena Lewis, who alleged that she was sexually assaulted by a pilot during a 2010 layover in Hawaii and that WestJet failed to properly investigate after she reported the incident. The case was formally certified as a class action by the British Columbia Court of Appeal in April 2022, following years of legal challenges from the airline that had sought to have it dismissed or moved to a different forum.
According to case details published by the law firm JFK Law LLP, the settlement applies to current and former female flight attendants who worked in WestJet's mainline operations between April 2014 and February 2021 and who did not opt out of the class action. After legal fees, disbursements and administrative costs are deducted, the remaining funds will be distributed among roughly 3,452 eligible claimants, with each expected to receive approximately CA$470 (about US$338).
Eligible class members do not need to take any action yet. Deloitte LLP, appointed as the independent claims administrator, is preparing an online claims portal. Once it is live, class members will receive instructions and a three-month window in which to submit a claim.
The agreement also carries non-monetary terms. It requires WestJet to commission an independent workplace assessment examining the prevalence of harassment, the extent of underreporting, and how the airline's harassment reporting and response systems could be improved. WestJet has agreed to share a summary of the findings with its employees.
Importantly, the settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing by WestJet, nor does it mandate anti-harassment training for flight crews. Lewis, the representative plaintiff, said the final terms fall short of delivering full justice for those affected. The court, however, found the settlement to be fair, reasonable and in the best interests of the class.
The approval closes one of the more prominent chapters in a case that has stretched across a decade and multiple levels of the Canadian court system. For the thousands of cabin crew covered by the class, attention now shifts to the claims process and to the independent review of WestJet's internal reporting culture that the settlement puts in motion.
Sources: AeroTime. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Elena Vargas.
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