The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is ordering AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines Co., to reinstate a former pilot who was fired after reporting multiple mechanical problems.
OSHA is also requiring that AirTran Airways pays the pilot more than $1 million in back wages, interest and compensatory damages. After an investigation by OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program, the agency found reason to believe the pilot's firing was in retaliation, which violates the whistleblower provision of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, known as AIR21.
"Airline workers must be free to raise safety and security concerns, and companies that diminish those rights through intimidation or retaliation must be held accountable," says OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "Airline safety is of vital importance, not only to the workers, but to the millions of Americans who use our airways."
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According to the pilot's complaint, AirTran Airways removed him from flight status on Aug. 23, 2007, because of an investigative hearing on the abrupt increase in the pilot's mechanical malfunction reports. After holding an internal investigative hearing on Sept. 6, 2007, that lasted 17 minutes, the pilot was fired seven days later. AirTran Airways claimed the pilot did not satisfactorily answer a question regarding the increase in reports. However, OSHA found that the pilot cooperated during the hearing, his answers were appropriate, and AirTran Airways' action was retaliatory.
"Retaliating against a pilot for reporting mechanical malfunctions is not consistent with a company that values the safety of its workers and customers," Michaels says. "Whistleblower laws are designed to protect workers' rights to speak out when they have safety concerns, and the Labor Department will vigilantly protect and defend those fundamental rights."
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