American Airlines, which since late October has been the subject of a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) travel advisory related to allegations of discrimination against African American passengers, has unveiled an action plan designed to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
The carrier announced the new plan Thursday after CEO Doug Parker and other executives met with a group of NAACP leaders, including the organization's president Derrick Johnson.
"It is our intention to reflect on the experiences our team members and customers have shared, and lead our airline forward to create a more inclusive society," CEO Doug Park said in a prepared statement. "We think corporate America can make a difference in diversity and inclusion and we at American want to be leaders in that regard."
The company outlined four steps it will take to improve inclusiveness. They include:
- Hiring an outside firm to conduct a nine-month assessment of American's inclusiveness and diversity policies in comparison to industry best practices. The assessment is to begin early next year.
- Implementing implicit bias training for its 120,000 employees.
- Creating a complaint resolution team that specializes in customer discrimination complaints. All customers with a discrimination complaint will be called within 48 hours and their claims will receive expedited review.
- Improving oversight and resolution of discrimination claims by American employees.
In issuing the travel advisory against American this fall, the NAACP highlighted four incidents involving African American passengers, three of whom were removed from flights.