Mechanic Had Been Disciplined For Reporting Cracks In 737 Fuselage

Southwest Airlines has agreed to remove a disciplinary action from the file of a mechanic who reported finding cracks in the fuselage of a Boeing 737 airplane, and will pay the mechanic's legal fees.

The suit was filed under the AIR-21 statute, which gives airline employees an appeal process if they feel they were terminated or otherwise disciplined for reporting safety information. Forbes reports that in this case, a Department of Labor Administrative Law Judge dismissed Southwest's motion for summary judgement, and granted a similar motion in favor of the mechanic.

According to the Judges decision: "On the evening of July 2, 2014, the [mechanic] was assigned by [Southwest] to perform a [maintenance] check on a Southwest Boeing 737-700 aircraft, N208WN.  This maintenance check is part of Southwest’s Maintenance Procedural Manual (MPM).   This check requires a mechanic to follow a task card which details the tasks to be accomplished.”  The task card requires the ” mechanic to “ walkaround” the aircraft to visually inspect the fuselage.  During his inspection, the [mechanic] discovered two cracks on the aircraft’s fuselage and documented them.  Discovery of these cracks resulted in the aircraft being removed from service to be repaired.”

Thereafter, the mechanic was called into a meeting with his supervisors to “discuss the issue of working outside the scope of his assigned task.”  He was then issued a “Letter of Instruction” advising the mechanic that he had acted outside the scope of work in the task card and warning him that further violations could result in further disciplinary actions.  The mechanic alleged in his whistleblower complaint that the letter from Southwest “was calculated to, or had the effect of, intimidating [him] and dissuading him and other Southwest [mechanics] from reporting the discovery of cracks, abnormalities or defects out of fear of being disciplined.”

In his complaint, the mechanic said the letter from the airline “was calculated to, or had the effect of, intimidating [him] and dissuading him and other Southwest [mechanics] from reporting the discovery of cracks, abnormalities or defects out of fear of being disciplined.”

Forbes reports that there was no final decision reached on the merits of the mechanic's case, however the settlement was reached shortly after the judge handed down the decision.

FMI: www.dol.gov