02/02/2022
Curry, Pearson & Wooten, PLC, and lead attorney Michael Pearson are pleased to announce that the lawsuit challenging the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic Controller hiring changes in 2014 is now a class action. The case, No. 16-cv-2227 (DLF), pending in the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia, will now move forward as a class action for clients Andrew Brigida and Matthew Douglas-Cook and other aspiring air traffic controllers who scored highly on qualification tests but lost out on their dream jobs due to the FAA’s effort to skew the hiring process along racial lines. Plaintiffs Andrew Brigida and Matthew L. Douglas-Cook were elated by the ruling.
“Today was a really great feeling,” said Brigida. “It was a shock finally hearing the Judge grant our motion to move the case along, and a long time coming. Not many cases of this type even get to this point of the lawsuit. I know there is still a lot of work ahead to be done, but I feel that today was a huge hurdle to jump over, and probably one of the bigger ones.”
The case now proceeds to the merits of whether discrimination took place in the FAA’s actions. The class action would cover the non-African American CTI graduates who: (1) by February 10, 2014: (a) graduated from a CTI program at one of the 36 FAA-partnered CTI Institutions between 2009-2013 and (b) passed the AT-SAT; (2) applied to be an ATCS trainee through the 2014 All Sources vacancy announcement but failed the Biographical Questionnaire that was incorporated into the 2014 ATCS hiring process and was therefore not hired; and (3) have never been offered employment as an FAA ATCS.
Curry, Pearson & Wooten, PLC attorney Michael Pearson began litigating the matter through the administrative process in 2014 and will be litigating the case to resolution along with co-counsel Mountain States Legal Foundation.
