Air Traffic Control Trainees’ Bias Suit Against FAA Can Proceed

The FAA lost an attempt to dismiss a suit claiming that it changed its hiring process to increase the number of Black candidates who successfully applied for air traffic controller positions, discriminating against other candidates, a federal district court said Wednesday.

Andrew Brigida and Matthew Douglas-Cook, who earned top scores in air traffic controller training but weren’t hired by the Federal Aviation Administration, alleged the agency violated Title VII when it eliminated its merit-based hiring preference for training graduates in order to benefit Black applicants. The plaintiffs plausibly alleged their job prospects were impaired by the new system, the U.S. ...