A Van Nuys aviation company has been ordered to pay nearly $1 million in back wages and associated costs to a former employee who was retaliated against after reporting flight safety issues.
Pegasus Elite Aviation Inc. has also been ordered by the U.S. Labor Department to correct misinformation it spread about the former employee, who is not being identified because of whistleblower status.
Pegasus Elite can appeal the order to the labor department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges.
James Wulff, the regional administrator for the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in San Francisco, said that the Labor Department will enforce the protections afforded airline workers who raise safety concerns.
“No matter the industry, every worker has the right to report safety concerns of any kind without fearing retaliation,” Wulff said in a statement.
Investigators with OSHA found that after the former employee of Pegasus Elite reported safety issues that led to an onsite inspection, Pegasus Elite sent a falsified and negative Pilot Records Improvement Act report to the employee’s new workplace, a violation of whistleblower provisions. The report led to the employee’s termination, according to a release from the Labor Department.
OSHA also found that Pegasus Elite provided falsified information to the Federal Aviation Administration that contributed to that agency suspending the former employee’s pilot certificates, the release said.
OSHA ordered that Pegasus Elite pay $898,000 in back wages, $50,000 in emotional damages and $10,000 in attorney’s fees.
In addition to the monetary penalties, Pegasus Elite must send a letter of correction to the FAA and other employers who received the falsified report, removing the derogatory information, according to the department’s release.