FAA lawsuit claims agency discriminated against air traffic controller applicants on the basis of race

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is being sued in a class action lawsuit alleging it turned away nearly 1,000 air traffic controller applicants, solely based on their race.

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who now serves as co-counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation based in Colorado, is leading efforts for a lawsuit that could set a new precedent and force companies to hire employees based on skills.

Laxalt said the lawsuit represents nearly 1,000 people who went to school to become air traffic controllers, which, for about 20 years until the end of the Obama administration, graduated 100 % of the people who went on to work in their field.

The individuals Laxalt represents passed the normal test right before the Obama administration said the class was too White and threw out the tests with the applicants.

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"That’s the group of citizens we represent," Laxalt said. "Their careers were derailed. Their lives were upended. So, it’s important we get justice for them, but obviously it’s important that cases like this highlight that these practices were going on in the federal government, and they can still be going on in any agency in America."

The attorney pointed to an article from The Wall Street Journal that said the FAA was at 75% staffing for air traffic controllers across the country, constantly affecting travel plans for Americans.

"When you travel and have a delay, it’s because there aren’t enough of these people," Laxalt said. "When you see these near incidents in air traffic control, it’s because there aren’t enough people. There are only 14,000 air traffic controllers. A thousand were scrapped a decade ago, and the bottom line is they’ve never made up losing all of this pipeline."

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The backup may never be made up, he said, questioning the standards the FAA currently uses to fill that gap.

Laxalt reiterated that the class that was thrown out was "too White." As a result, he said, the FAA put together a new test that created a biographical test with the intent of adding more African Americans to the air traffic applicant pool.

The change also included a question that if the applicant did poorly in math, they would get extra points on the biographical test.

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"Nevermind how insulting it was that the government was concluding that this is a way to pool up African Americans into the air traffic control ranks, but that’s all there," Laxalt said. "They did change the test to change the applicant pool."

The lawsuit is based on Title 7, which dates back to 1964 and makes it illegal for anyone to discriminate on the basis of race or gender when hiring.

"The good news is the Supreme Court is trending this way," Laxalt said. "We feel this case is a case that we’re going to win."

If he does win, the impacts could be "huge" across the board, Laxalt said, and will force companies and the government to simply do what’s right: "hire on the basis of merit."

The FAA told Fox Business hiring highly qualified air traffic controllers is "a top priority."

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"Every FAA-certified air traffic controller has gone through months of screening and training at the FAA Academy, and that is before another 18-24 hours of training to learn specific regions and airspaces," the FAA said. "There is a well-known national shortage of air traffic controllers, and the FAA has ramped up outreach to ensure no talent is left on the table.

"We are accelerating the pace of recruiting, training, and hiring to meet demand, while maintaining the highest qualification standards," the administration added.