Southwest Supports Older Pilot Lawsuit

[wnbubbleboy]

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Southwest Airlines will file a friend of the court brief next week in support of 12 pilots who are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Federal Aviation Administration's requirement that pilots retire at age 60, Time magazine reports.

In its online edition, the magazine says the low-cost carrier is the first major airline to support the elimination of the Age 60 rule.

"Times are changing," Southwest (Research) spokeswoman Linda Rutherford told Time. "We are losing some really good pilots."

The magazine says the Age 60 rule has been in effect since 1959, with advocates such as the FAA believing that pilots begin to lose cognitive and motor skills as they reach that milestone.

But Time says critics of the rule say it has only been in effect to take the older pilots, often the highest paid employees of an airline, off the payroll in place of a cheaper, younger pilot.

The 12 pilots asked the Supreme Court earlier this month to review their petition to end the rule.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a pilot group's challenge to a federal rule forcing them to retire at age 60.

Justices let stand a lower ruling in favor of the Federal Aviation Administration, which says the retirement rule for commercial pilots is necessary for safety. Officials have argued that pilots lose critical cognitive and motor skills as they age.

The regulation, which was adopted during the 1950s, automatically bars airline pilots from flying after they reach 60, regardless of their health. A group of 12 pilots called that discriminatory and said their competency and health should be considered when deciding their ability to fly.

The pilots' appeal was backed by low-fare carrier Southwest Airlines, which argued in a friend-of-the-court filing that FAA data shows older pilots are ``as safe as, and in some cases safer than, their younger colleagues.''

``The 1950s-era age 60 rule, coupled with the FAA's rigid implementation of it, arbitrarily deprives Southwest Airlines of some of its best pilots at the peak of their careers,'' the airline wrote.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court expanded job protections for workers age 40 and over by allowing them to file age bias claims over hiring and salary policies that disproportionately hurt them even if employers never intended any harm.

But the 5-3 opinion also granted employers additional defenses to ultimately win at trial by citing reasonable explanations for their policies, such as safety. In doing so, justices reasoned that age can affect performance in some occupations.

 

[jB-Rocks]

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[skyflyr69]

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[post="266078"][/post]​

Smart court. bet this makes the "younger" pilots happy.

 

[Skull-1]

Smart court. bet this makes the "younger" pilots happy.

[post="266096"][/post]​

It will only make them happy until they are "old" pilots.

 

[BIFF]

I heard somewhere that in about 3-5 years 60% of the entire industry's pilots will be forced to retire. Is this true?

 

[corl737]

I heard somewhere that in about 3-5 years 60% of the entire industry's pilots will be forced to retire. Is this true?

[post="277547"][/post]​

Not true for pilots. Air Traffic Controllers are nearly that percentage, however.

Read the stats posted on the National Air Traffic Controllers Assoc website.