OSHA issues ruling on airline pilot’s whistleblowing

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a highly active federal agency, announcing various rulings on lack of overtime payments, or other actions that fall foul of the law.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Asia Pacific Airlines to pay $419,267 in back pay plus interest, eight years of future salary, $27,596 in interest on loans and restoration of 401(k) contributions, $75,000 in emotional damages and reasonable attorney fees. In addition, Asia Pacific Airlines was ordered to expunge the employee’s record and provide training to current employees on their rights.

Photo courtesy of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Asia Pacific Airlines may appeal the order to the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges, according to a Dec. 12 release from OSHA.

In 2019, an Administrative Law Judge ruled that Asia Pacific Airlines violated the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century whistleblower protection provision by illegally terminating a pilot who raised several safety concerns. Since 2014, OSHA has received safety complaints from several of the airline’s pilots, according to OSHA.

A subsidiary of Tan Holdings Corp., Asia Pacific Airlines operates in Guam, Hawaii and throughout the Pacific. In 1992, the department’s Wage and Hour Division fined a Levi Strauss Marianas garment factory operated by Tan Holdings Corp. more than $9 million for wage violations and worker abuses.

In other business news, Macy’s “First 50” locations delivered third consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth, up 1.9%. The First 50 locations are those that have seen comparable sales increase for two consecutive quarters, according to Macy’s.

“Our third quarter results reflect the positive momentum we are building through our Bold New Chapter strategy,” Tony Spring, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, Inc.; said.

Macy’s, Inc.’s net sales decreased 2.4% to $4.7 billion, with comparable sales down 2.4% on an owned basis and down 1.3% on an owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace basis, according to the group. The company previously announced a list of closures of stores in the U.S. mainland and Hawaii, in August. mbj

Panel reflects on 50 years since Operation New Life

Scholars, community leaders, veterans, and former refugees gathered at the Guam Museum Theater in Hagåtña on July 26, for a public forum marking the 50th anniversary of Operation New Life, a massive U.S. military-led evacuation effort that brought more than 110,000 Vietnamese refugees through Guam in 1975 following the fall of Saigon.

OSHA issues ruling on airline pilot’s whistleblowing