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The billionaire owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons hired a woman half his age to work on his private jet while the pair were “in a romantic relationship” — but she wasn’t qualified for the job, and he allegedly forced two other stewardesses to work unpaid overtime to pick up the slack, according to an explosive lawsuit.
The family office of Arthur Blank — who made his fortune as co-founder of big-box retailer Home Depot before buying the Falcons in 2002 for $545 million — is being sued by two corporate flight attendants, Adele Pearson and Samantha Carlisle.
The pair allege they were not paid overtime after working long, grueling hours on Blank’s luxurious aircraft partly because the family office’s flight group “was a dysfunctional and poorly run business unit that hired and retained incompetent employees solely because they had sexual relationships with Blank or supervisors,” the suit claims.
According to the complaint filed on Oct. 18 in Atlanta federal court, 82-year-old Blank, who is thrice divorced and has six children, was romantically involved with 42-year-old Christie Buice, who was hired as a flight attendant by the mogul’s family office, AMBFO.
Buice “provided only limited support” as AMBFO “allowed her to be scheduled on flights only if Blank was the only person traveling on the aircraft,” it was alleged in the complaint, which was reported by Business Insider and Law360.
As a result, flight attendants Pearson and Carlisle alleged that they were “regularly required to work far more than 40 hours per week due to their heavy workload” because they were “regularly required” to “cover up [Buice’s] deficiencies and handle the vast majority of the flights for AMBFO.”
The two flight attendants also alleged that AMBFO kept another employee on the payroll who was “similarly incapable of performing her duties” while she was engaged “in a romantic relationship with the director of aviation.”
That flight attendant was “completely unqualified for her position” and her “hiring served only to increase Plaintiffs’ workload by both handling her duties and attempting to familiarize her with the company’s operations,” according to the lawsuit.
Pearson and Carlisle also alleged that they had to “perform various personal errands for Blank or his family members” on top of their flight-related duties, including handling dry cleaning and choosing restaurants or hotels.’
Blank, whose net worth was valued by Forbes at $9.3 billion as of Monday, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The Post has also sought comment from Buice and the other two employees mentioned in the lawsuit.
Carlisle, who was hired by AMBFO in March 2022, told her bosses in July of this year that she was quitting.
Pearson was hired by January 2021. Her job status is unclear. When reached by The Post, an attorney for Pearson declined to comment.
The two flight attendants, who alleged that they worked “in excess of 70 hours per week and” in some cases 90 hours per week, said they voiced complaints that they had “almost no personal time” and that “she could not continue to work the amount of hours that AMBFO regularly required her to work.”
According to the lawsuit, Pearson and Carlisle were last year paid annual wages of $160,000 and “approximately $158,000,” respectively, and worked 26 days a month for several months.
The two flight attendants accused AMBFO of having “falsified time records” to suggest that they both had eight days off a month. They alleged that on their days off they were “bombarded” with text messages and phone calls from Blank’s family office about travel planning.
Data from JetSpy shows he owns two private jets — a Bombardier Global Express and a Bombardier Global 7500.
