Originally Posted by
rickair7777
The SKW pilot in question was not fired for calling in fatigued. He was fired for allegedly writing profanity re. the RCP on a bulletin board in the crew room (twice).
He won the lawsuit because the company did not adequately prove that he was the one who wrote the profanity, so the company should not have fired him on circumstantial evidence.
Like most stories, there are two sides to this one. The pilot in question was not renowned for being a great guy to fly with or being easy to get along with, and apparently had a personal conflict with the RCP (who was also not known for being a great guy who was easy to get along with).
The fatigue call was just one event in a series of issues between these two guys. Let's not make this into something it's not.
After reading the Federal Judge's opinion on this case, it is quite evident that your take on the situation is vastly different than his. The Federal Judge's decision says the profanity on the bulletin board is NOT the reason the Captain was fired. The Chief Pilot (TF) "Monday Morning Quarterbacked" the fatigue call, gave Captain a week off with no pay for discipline, Captain requested a review board to revisit the discipline, review board agreed with Captain and said TF over-reacted and gave the Captain his back pay over issue. Review Board advised TF to only issue Captain a letter in file. Upon recieving letter, Captain surreptitiously recorded conversation with TF. On the recording TF was heard DEMANDING the Captain admit he was wrong in calling in fatigue. Captain refused to admit culpability in fatigue call. Weeks later the graffiti on the bulletin board surfaced. TF claimed that DD (Captain) had written the infamous Z, of which many former military personnel write their Z with a line through the middle. DD (Captain) denied writing, TF fired him for "lying" about writing the graffiti.
Judge heard the evidence and raised the BS flag on Capt getting fired for writing the graffiti. He proclaimed TF "non-credible" (read liar) and this issue was really about Captain DD calling in fatigued and TF not agreeing with the call.