The Department of Labor ordered Asia Pacific Airlines to pay more than $2 million in wages, damages, and attorneys’ fees to an employee who was reprimanded, suspended, and then fired for raising aircraft safety concerns and refusing to fly a cargo plane the employee believed had an unreliable engine, OSHA announced December 11.
OSHA investigators found that the Guam airline, operated by Aero Micronesia Inc., dismissed the pilot’s concerns and retaliated against the pilot for exercising federally protected rights to raise safety concerns.
Agency investigators learned that the pilot repeatedly voiced concerns that the airline’s maintenance team approved aircraft maintenance and repair reports without correctly diagnosing engine problems. According to OSHA, a parallel investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration determined that the pilot accurately assessed that the airline’s maintenance team used the wrong procedure to troubleshoot and diagnose engine malfunctions, making it impossible to identify the cause of the problem and fix it before clearing the aircraft to fly.
While the airline’s then chief pilot and director of operations maintained throughout OSHA’s investigation that disciplining and terminating the employee was legitimate, the agency concluded that the pilot’s reporting safety concerns contributed to Asia Pacific’s disciplinary actions.
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