The aviation company Asia Pacific Airlines will pay more than $2 million in legal fees and damages to an employee unlawfully fired.
The Department of Labor has not named the employee in question, but it was reported they had complained to senior staff members about safety concerns and refused to fly a cargo plane that they believed had an unreliable engine.
At the time of the complaint, his employer, Aero Micronesia Inc., took action to fire the employee and maintained that this was the correct decision to do so throughout an investigation carried out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
It was the pilot’s federally protected right to raise safety concerns, especially those that could lead to engine failure and potential loss of life.
Asia Pacific Airlines pay the price for wrongful termination
The investigation by OSHA found that the” pilot repeatedly expressed concerns that the airlines’ maintenance team approved the aircraft maintenance and repair reports without diagnosing the engine problems correctly.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, upon hearing of these concerns, agreed with the pilot’s raised concerns. The federal body said that The pilot “accurately assessed that the Asia Pacific Airlines’ maintenance team used the wrong procedure to troubleshoot and diagnose the engine malfunctions, making it impossible to identify the cause of the problem and fix it before clearing the aircraft to fly.”
Asia Pacific Airlines is a mainstay of aviation in the Pacific. It operates out of Guam, Hawaii, and is a subsidiary of Tan Holdings Corp. The Department of Labor knows this company, and in 1992, a Levi Strauss Marianas garment factory operated by Tan Holdings Corp. was fined approximately $9 million for wage violations and worker abuses.
As a result of the findings by OSHA and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Asia Pacific Airlines will pay $419,267 in back pay plus interest, eight years of future salary, $27,596 in interest on loans and restoration of 401k contributions, $75,000 in emotional damages and reasonable attorney fees.
“Asia Pacific Airlines has shown an unacceptable and potentially catastrophic disregard for safety and shamefully viewed pilots’ safety concerns as employee conflicts,” said OSHA Assistant Regional Administrator Ryan Himes in Seattle. “The outcome of this investigation should remind all employees that they are legally protected and can raise safety concerns without fear of retaliation by their employer.”
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