A lawyer who sued an upstate New York airport after it rejected a small advertisement for her sexual harassment law firm has now seen her message displayed on a massive sign at the facility.
Megan Thomas had signed a contract last summer for an ad at Syracuse Hancock International Airport, intending it to read: “When HR called it harmless flirting … we called it exhibit A.” However, airport officials requested she soften the "harsh" wording. Instead of complying, Thomas filed a lawsuit. The advertisement is now finally in place, with its original wording intact – and significantly larger than she had initially planned.
Two walls of the travel hub are emblazoned with the prominent, pink advertisement, alongside a huge photograph of Thomas. "When the airport told me the First Amendment did not apply and that they could do what they liked, I realized I would need to bring a lawsuit," Thomas said. "I understood that if I won this battle, it would protect not only my rights, but also the rights of other women who come after me."
In her federal lawsuit filed in August, Thomas said the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority approved a draft version of her ad, but the following day told her it was not approved and that the slogan was “considered to be a bit harsh.” During a follow-up call, Thomas said she was told the authority's leadership believed the proposed ad might be viewed as “threatening” or “intimidating” to men. In court documents, lawyers for the SRAA said the authority offered alternate slogans “that conveyed a similar message in a more professional and less misleading and disparaging manner.”
A judge disagreed with their assessment, saying in a preliminary decision in January that the authority's claim was “nonsense.” The two sides reached a confidential settlement shortly after the judge's ruling. The new, larger ad went up a few weeks ago. Thomas says calls to her firm have been “way up” since the sign went up, and she has hired another attorney and plans to hire another office staffer.
