By Kristen Green
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 26, 2002
The flight attendant who was fired after testifying in David Westerfield's trial that she had smoked marijuana with Danielle van Dam's parents got her job back this week.
Denise Kemal was reinstated as a flight attendant on Southwest Airlines after appealing the company's decision to fire her through internal grievance procedures, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.
Southwest, which has a zero-tolerance drug policy, fired Kemal in June after she testified in the nationally televised murder trial.
Reached yesterday, Kemal said getting her job back feels great, but declined to comment further. When she was fired, Kemal said it had ruined her life.
"I've always wanted to fly," she said.
"She just wants to put this behind her," said Tom McDaniel, president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represented Kemal in the proceedings.
The agreement doesn't provide back pay for Kemal and requires she undergo regular drug testing. She will return to work immediately.
Westerfield was convicted in August of kidnapping and killing the 7-year-old girl, whose parents last saw her alive Feb. 1. The same jury recommended he be executed, and his sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 22.
Kemal's marijuana smoking "would have never come out but for what he did," said San Diego attorney Spencer Busby, the van Dams' lawyer. He wrote a letter to Southwest on her behalf.
"She fulfilled her civic duty," he said yesterday. "It would be inappropriate to penalize her for testifying truthfully."
Kemal took the witness stand June 10, saying she visited the van Dam home Feb. 1 and spent the evening partying with Brenda van Dam. They became friends through their husbands, who both worked at Qualcomm, and Kemal testified they swapped spouses in 2000. Kemal and her husband have since divorced.
Kemal testified she and her neighbor Barbara Easton accompanied van Dam to Dad's Cafe & Steakhouse in Poway two Fridays in a row, Jan. 25 and Feb. 1. Westerfield was also at the bar, and bought them drinks on both occasions.
The women were celebrating Kemal's move to Baltimore, where she had been transferred for work. She testified she took a few puffs of a marijuana cigarette both nights.
In a July interview, Kemal said she didn't regularly smoke marijuana and that she'd passed all random drug tests during her 31/2-year Southwest employment.
She was a good employee, she said, and the airline regularly received letters from passengers commending her. Kemal said she often played games with children on flights and walked up and down the aisle entertaining fidgety babies.
The company also has a grievance procedure that allowed her to appeal the decision within 10 days. The company was required to respond within 10 days of the appeal.
Kemal took her appeal another step, and flew to Houston to present her case Tuesday to a board composed of two union members and two Southwest officials. An agreement that allowed her to return to work was reached before the hearing.
============================================================ So, it just goes to show that it doesn't matter what you do so long as you don't get caught. Even if you do get caught if you whine enough you can still get your job back.
I wonder if this applies to the drunk pilots?
I just hope that when it's Denise's turn to close and lock the passenger door that somebody, heck anybody takes the time to double-check that door.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised....but honestly, I am.
I can't believe I'm reading this!!....Would it do any good (probably not!) to protest this or send letters to Southwest?
...this is insane.
...and yes, it makes one wonder if those drunk pilots will be reinstated also!!!
I just returned from a trip (on another airline) this weekend.
And I continue to witness the little old ladies being pulled aside
...!!literally, right in front of me, this little old couple, and they were taking out every medicine pouch, every makeup bag, her kleenexes, her eyeglass case.....it was pathetic.
They also pulled aside a family of four.....mom, dad, and two preteens.
...It was horrendous seeing them wand the little preteens, making them spreadeagle, and hold up their arms, and knowing everyone was looking at them.
Of course, the ONE guy I would have wanted searched, simply trotted onto the plane as free as a bird!!!
And Denise wants to 'fly'......
...good mercy, when does this end!
Southwest didn't catch Denise using, exactly... so it isn't exactly zero-tolerance?