Former Controllers' Union Accuses FAA Of Age Discrimination

Four air traffic controllers fired by President Ronald Reagan during the PATCO strike in 1981 have asked a federal judge in Memphis (TN) for a temporary injunction against the Transportation Department, saying the FAA has been guilty of age discrimination since at least 1993.

That's when President Bill Clinton waived the ban on rehiring PATCO controllers. But, in their filing with the court on Friday, PATCO President Ron Taylor told ANN that the government has engaged in a systematic discrimination against his members.

"These alleged discriminatory and unlawful practices include placing unlawful 'quotas' on the number of PATCO applicants who could be hired in any year, and making selections without even comparing the qualifications of the PATCO applicants with other applicants," said Taylor, in an exclusive statement to Aero-News. "Since President Clinton lifted the ban, the FAA has hired many people with no air traffic control experience whatsoever, and many others who had some minimal military air traffic control experience, but who were clearly less qualified than the PATCO applicants."

Since the PATCO ban was lifted 11 years ago, Taylor said, the FAA has hired approximately 4,000 new controllers. Only 862 of them were PATCO controllers.

The four controllers along with PATCO, say the FAA has shunted their applications into what's called the "PATCO Inventory." The suit says every applicant in the "PATCO Inventory" is old enough to be protected by the government against age discrimination. They accuse the FAA of wanting to "intentionally exclude these plaintiffs and other PATCO applicants from consideration under other hiring processes."

Further, they flat out say the FAA "has made an arbitrary determination that it will not hire any applicants from the PATCO Inventory either now or in the future."

"The plaintiffs are not seeking any preferential hiring consideration," Taylor said in his statement. "All they are seeking is a court order directing the FAA to accept all legitimate applications and base its hiring decisions on the relative qualifications and experience of the applicants as required by federal law."

FMI: www.patco81.com