American Airlines blackballed employee for reporting sexual assault, Fort Worth woman says

A former top American Airlines employee was sexually assaulted by a celebrity chef during a work trip and blackballed by the airline for reporting the assault, the Fort Worth woman said in a lawsuit and interview.

Kimberly Goesling, 52, of Fort Worth, filed a lawsuit in the 342nd Judicial District Court in Tarrant County against the chef and American Airlines in January 2020. She originally filed the suit under a pseudonym, but she came forward and revealed her identity, filing an amended petition Friday and speaking out in a Fox News interview published Tuesday.

American Airlines said after Goesling reported the assault, it conducted an investigation and severed business ties with Sargeant.

“Because this matter involves ongoing litigation, we aren’t able to comment further at this time, other than to say that Ms. Goesling remains a valued member of our team,” a representative said.

Goesling worked for American Airlines for nearly 30 years as a flight attendant and worked on special assignments as a top employee. On one such trip in January 2018, she and other American Airlines employees flew to Germany to develop an international menu for first and business-class passengers.

Celebrity chef Mark Sargeant, whom American Airlines hired, also attended the trip. The company knew of prior allegations against Sargeant for alcohol abuse and inappropriate sexual relationships, according to Goesling’s lawsuit against Sargeant and American Airlines. Sargeant worked with Gordon Ramsay for 13 years until he resigned last month to work with The Swan Collection, according to Big Hospitality news.

On the final night of the group’s stay in Germany, Sargeant forced his way into Goesling’s hotel room at 3:30 a.m. and sexually assaulted her, according to the suit.

Sargeant had been drinking with some of American Airlines’ managers that night, according to the suit, and they encouraged his pursuit of her, according to the lawsuit. The managers also gave him excessive amounts of alcohol, despite knowing his history of alcohol abuse, and one American Airlines employee gave him Goesling’s room number, the suit says.

Goesling spoke out about the assault in a video posted on social media, including in the Facebook group The MeToo Truth about American Airlines. In the video, which was posted April 13, she says HR representatives refused to meet with her for weeks for her to report the assault. When she was able to speak with a representative, the first question the person asked was, “What were you wearing?” She replied that she was wearing her pajamas.

In a subsequent investigation by American Airlines, the chef admitted to attacking Goesling, according to the lawsuit.

Goesling decided to publicly reveal her identity and spoke with a Fox News anchor in an exclusive interview published Tuesday. The interview is part of an internet series called, “The LIFT UP” by Gretchen Carlson.

“I am done. I am no longer going to hide from what happened because I’m not the bad guy and I have nothing to hide from,” Goesling said in the interview. “If anyone should be hiding, it’s American and not me.”

American Airlines managers promised to pay for Goesling’s therapy and allow her time away from work shifts, Goesling said. Instead, they removed her from her position on the airline’s recruitment team.

“American is responsible because it hired the predator, it provided the alcohol he drank and then its managers encouraged him to go to Kimberly’s room,” said Goesling’s attorney Robert Miller of Dallas’ Miller Bryant LLP law firm, in a news release Tuesday. “In fact, we’ll be able to show that this predator only had Kimberly’s hotel room number because a member of American’s management team gave it to him.”