Whistle-blower wins fight against United DENVER (AP) =97 United Airlines has been ordered to pay a veteran aircraft= =20 mechanic nearly $120,000 for wrongfully firing him after he raised safety=20 concerns about an incident in Denver. The airline must pay David Lawson=20 $104,274 in back wages and $15,000 in damages for causing emotional=20 distress under an order Friday from Joseph E. Kane, an administrative law=20 judge for the Department of Labor in Cincinnati. Lawson, 43, who was fired= =20 in May 2001, sought reinstatement and payment for lost wages under a=20 whistle-blower law that protects airline workers who report safety=20 problems. Lawson returned to his United job at Denver International Airport= =20 in August, following a preliminary ruling in his favor by the Occupational= =20 Safety and Health Administration. "I hope others will come forward in the=20 future when confronted with similar situations," said Lawson, who started=20 at United in 1985. "It's a shame that hundreds of thousands of dollars have= =20 to be spent on a trial for a safety concern that could have, and should=20 have, been dealt with by local management." Chicago-based United, DIA's dominant carrier, plans to appeal the ruling,=20 spokesman Jeff Green said. United says it fired Lawson because he cursed at= =20 a manager, Steve Sanborn, and intimidated Sanborn in April 2001. "We=20 believe our actions were unrelated to any whistle-blower" allegations,=20 Green said. But the judge agreed with Lawson's contention that United fired= =20 him because he aggressively and repeatedly asked the airline to address a=20 2000 incident involving maintenance on a jet. On July 6, 2000, Lawson and=20 Jim Pommerer were repairing a system that controls temperature on a plane=20 and pressurizes the aircraft. Pommerer shut off the air that supplies the=20 system and told the flight crew it should remain off until they finished.=20 Without conferring with either worker, a supervisor told the flight crew=20 that maintenance was complete and the plane was ready for dispatch, Lawson= =20 alleged. The crew turned the air back on. Lawson was away from the jet, but= =20 Pommerer was working. Startled, he immediately jumped to the ground. He was= =20 not harmed, but Lawson feared a more serious incident in the future. Lawson= =20 admitted cursing at Sanborn on April 2, 2001. He said he was upset with=20 Sanborn because he thought Sanborn had botched the investigation into the=20 incident. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) : escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.tobagoweddings.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************