FAA faces class-action lawsuit over alleged racial discrimination in air traffic controller hiring
By lauraharris // 2025-02-06
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  • The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is facing a lawsuit accusing it of rejecting nearly 1,000 air traffic controller applicants based on race, led by former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt and the Mountain States Legal Foundation.
  • The lawsuit claims the FAA's decision was aimed at meeting diversity targets, leading to the rejection of 1,000 qualified candidates, including Andrew Brigida, despite a 100 percent graduation rate for a previous program.
  • The lawsuit, based on Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, challenges the FAA's current hiring practices, including the implementation of a biographical test favoring African American applicants, regardless of their performance in math.
  • The ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers in the U.S., operating at 75 percent staffing levels, is drawing attention due to frequent delays and near incidents, exacerbated by the tragic midair collision in Washington, D.C.
  • Andrew Brigida, now a program manager at the FAA, hopes for immediate attention to the staffing issue from the Department of Transportation and the FAA, emphasizing the potential safety risks associated with the current shortage.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is grappling with a class-action lawsuit that accuses the agency of turning away nearly 1,000 air traffic controller applicants solely based on their race. The lawsuit, led by former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt and the Mountain States Legal Foundation, alleges that the FAA denied 1,000 would-be air traffic controllers jobs in an effort to meet diversity targets, raising concerns about the agency's ability to ensure aviation safety. According to Laxalt, the affected individuals were part of a program that graduated 100 percent of its participants into the air traffic controller field for about 20 years until the end of the Obama administration. The lawsuit claims that the Obama administration deemed the class "too White" and subsequently threw out the tests and applicants, derailing their careers and upending their lives. The lawsuit, based on Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race or gender in hiring, is set to challenge the current hiring practices of the FAA. Laxalt emphasized that the changes made to the test included a biographical test designed to favor African American applicants, even if they performed poorly in math. This, according to Laxalt, is not only insulting but also highlights the discriminatory nature of the hiring process of the FAA. (Related: FAA faces scrutiny over diversity hiring policies amid staffing shortages and deadly midair collision.) Moreover, the lawsuit draws attention to the ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers in the U.S., with the FAA currently operating at 75 percent staffing levels across the country. This shortage has led to frequent delays and near incidents in air traffic control, affecting millions of Americans. It also resurfaced following the tragic midair collision between an American Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, which resulted in the deaths of 67 people. "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."

Diversity-focused hiring leads to shortage of air traffic controllers

Andrew Brigida, one of the "too-white" air traffic controller candidates who was discriminated against due to his race in 2014, graduated from Arizona State University's collegiate training initiative in 2013 and scored 100 percent on his training exam. However, he was turned down for the job despite his qualifications. When asked if he believed the years of diversity-focused hiring had contributed to the likelihood of an accident, Brigida said, "Yes, that's kind of accurate." The FAA's preliminary report into the crash revealed that the air traffic controller on duty at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was understaffed, overseeing both helicopters and arriving and departing planes, a task typically split between two controllers. The report stated that staffing levels were "not normal" for the time of day and traffic volume. This incident has brought to light ongoing staffing shortages at the airport's air traffic control facilities. According to Congress' Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan report, the facility had only 19 fully certified controllers on deck as of September 2023, far below the FAA and controllers' union's goal of 30. In line with this, Brigida, who now works as a program manager in the FAA, hopes that President Donald Trump would "immediately" see the issue at hand. "He obviously sees the issue at hand and if he didn't, I'm sure people that work in the Department of Transportation and the FAA informed him that there is an issue with staffing and air traffic control and I'm hoping they can work on it immediately," he said. Head over to LeftCult.com for more similar stories. Watch the video below that talks about proof that DEI overtook the FAA.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include: NYPost.com MSN.com Brighteon.com
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