Duval County

Jacksonville attorney represents 525 Delta Air Line Employees in new lawsuit over uniforms

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville attorney, Bruce Maxwell with Terrell, Hogan, Yegelwel, is leading a major lawsuit against the manufacture of airline uniforms.

Delta Air Line employees, mostly flight attendants, said their purple uniforms have continued to make them sick over the past two years and have now banded together against the manufacture to get them recalled.

“The uniforms came out May 29, 2018,” Maxwell said. “I would say within a couple months thereafter, that’s when they started experiencing symptoms. It’s varied among employees we’re all different. Everybody reacts differently, some had been exposed longer than others.”

Maxwell is representing 525 Delta employees in the lawsuit. The complaint states the uniforms have caused skin rashes, hives, boils, headaches, hair loss and difficulty breathing.

He said his law firm hired three independent laboratories to randomly test his clients’ uniforms, one of which was in Jacksonville. He said they found heavy metals and chemicals that are harmful to the body. According to the complaint, the labs found chromium, antimony, mercury, formaldehyde, fluorine, bromine.

“They value their careers, they love what they do,” Maxwell said. “They just want to get back to working on their business. Unfortunately, Lands’ End supplied Delta a lot of uniforms that are tainted with bad metals and chemicals.”

The complaint was filed against Lands’ End, Inc., in Madison, WI. It demands the manufacture recall all of these uniforms, create a medical monitoring fund for any future medical expenses, and individual injury claims.

Action News Jax reached out to Lands’ End for a comment.

A representative sent the following statement, “For over 50 years, Lands’ End has been a trusted supplier of workplace apparel and uniforms to American corporations. The uniforms at issue here have been in use for nearly two years, have been extensively tested multiple times by independent laboratories and have been found both safe and fit for their purpose. Because this matter is in litigation, we regret that we cannot comment further.”