Class Action Suit Filed On Behalf Of Those Who Had Completed Approved College Courses

A lawsuit has been filed in Arizona federal district court against the FAA, charging the agency of violating the rights of air traffic controller candidates rejected under its new hiring guidelines.

The suit was filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), for a class of thousands who met the FAA’s established tests for employment as air traffic controllers (ATC) but were rejected after the FAA announced new minority hiring plans. Michael Pearson, Esq., a former ATC and member of Curry, Pearson & Wooten, PLC in Phoenix, is local counsel.

The suit charges the FAA breached the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The class is represented by Andrew J. Brigida who graduated from Arizona State University with two aviation degrees and scored 100 percent on the FAA’s long-standing and proven ATC aptitude test.

“In abandoning years of hiring the most qualified and adopting a ‘test’ that is the epitome of psychobabble, the FAA told our clients their skills are less important than their race and the public that its racial agenda is more important than aircraft safety,” said William Perry Pendley, MSLF’s president.

Beginning in 1995, to ensure the availability of well qualified applicants to replace the steady and increasing stream of retiring ATCs—for whom the mandatory retirement age is 56—the FAA collaborated with universities and colleges to create accredited degree programs in diverse Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) schools. Then, the FAA gave a hiring preference to veterans, those with CTI program degrees, references from CTI administrators, and “well qualified” rankings on the challenging Air Traffic Selection and Training exam (AT-SAT)—a validated, proctored, eight-hour, computer-based test.

In May of 2013, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced a plan to “transform” the FAA into “a more diverse and inclusive workplace….” The announcement was accompanied by a suspect analysis that purported to show women and minorities as “underrepresented” in those the FAA hired. In December of 2013, the FAA began its new hiring process and told 2,000 to 3,000 trained and qualified graduates of CTI programs and veterans—who were on the FAA’s referral list and ready for immediate hire—that: their AT-SAT scores were not valid; they would be required to pass a non-validated and non-monitored “Biographical Questionnaire” before being able to retake the AT-SAT; and they must then reapply. The FAA “purged” its files of the 2,000 to 3,000 trained and qualified CTI graduates and veterans and opened the position to all English-speaking citizens with high school diplomas.

(Images from file)

FMI: www.mountainstateslegal.org