Asia Pacific Airlines, a Guam-based airline run by Aero Micronesia Inc., has been ordered by OSHA to reimburse a cargo pilot who was wrongly sacked for voicing safety concerns about a malfunctioning engine with over $2 million in compensation, damages, and legal fees.
A recent report claims that the pilot declined to operate a cargo jet because they thought its engine was unstable. According to OSHA inspectors, the airline retaliated against the pilot for exercising their federally protected right to report safety hazards by reprimanding, suspending, and ultimately dismissing them.
The agency concluded that the pilot had often expressed dissatisfaction with the maintenance team’s inadequate diagnosis of the engine issue. The pilot’s opinion was supported by a separate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inquiry, which discovered that Asia Pacific Airlines had employed improper troubleshooting techniques that hindered the accurate identification and resolution of the problem.
Ralph Freeman, the airline’s director of operations and chief pilot at the time, insisted that the disciplinary punishment was appropriate despite these conclusions. In the end, OSHA determined that the pilot’s termination was directly related to the pilot’s reporting safety issues.
“Asia Pacific Airlines has shown an unacceptable and potentially catastrophic disregard for safety and shamefully viewed pilots’ safety concerns as employee conflicts,” OSHA Assistant Regional Administrator Ryan Himes in Seattle said in a statement. “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.”
The airline was ordered by OSHA to pay $27,596 in loan interest, $75,000 for emotional damages, eight years’ worth of future wages, $419,267 in back pay with interest, and legal fees. Additionally, the agency required that Asia Pacific Airlines train its staff on whistleblower rights and that the pilot’s employment record be cleared.
Asia Pacific Airlines was found in violation of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, which protects whistleblowers, by an administrative law judge in 2019. Once more, the corporation wrongfully fired a pilot for voicing safety concerns. Pilots of the airline have been filing similar concerns since 2014.
The ruling can now be appealed by Asia Pacific Airlines to the Office of Administrative Law Judges.
