Yesterday, the news broke that the Department of Transportation reached a record $50 million settlement with American Airlines for breaking laws by failing to properly help disabled passengers get on and off its planes, providing them unsafe help that caused injuries, and mishandling thousands of wheelchairs, damaging them. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who lost both legs in combat in the Iraq War, praised the fine and commented: “When an airline damages or breaks someone’s wheelchair, it’s like breaking their legs.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “The era of tolerating poor treatment of airline passengers with disabilities is over. With this penalty, we are setting a new standard of accountability for airlines that violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities. By setting penalties at levels beyond the mere cost of doing business for airlines, we’re aiming to change how the industry behaves and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the first place.”

You would think the airline would know better. As a former corporate executive, I always marvel at why some leaders in management think they can ignore or get away with such unfair treatment of others. Was it worth the $50 million the company now has to forfeit?