Whistle-blower to be paid $30,000 by American Power

An Auburn company that did repair work for Alaska Airlines has agreed to pay nearly $30,000 to a former employee who was laid off after she accused the company of ignoring federal air-safety standards.

The settlement, reached about a week ago, follows a federal finding that American Power retaliated against Melodee Nixon, 57, of Bonney Lake, for raising safety concerns. Her case was investigated by the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) under a law designed to protect whistle-blowers in the aviation industry.

Nixon alleged that American Power laid her off a year ago after she warned superiors the company was providing false data to Alaska relating to the recalibration of oxygen and nitrogen regulators. The regulators are used, among other things, in emergency flight masks and tires.

American, a tool supply and repair company, made no admissions of wrongdoing in the settlement. The company's owner, Jan Brown, said no safety violations occurred and Nixon was not laid off for raising questions.

American has agreed to post information about whistle-blower rights in its workplace, as well as provide training on the subject to its employees.

In Nixon's complaint to OSHA, she contended American repeatedly "copied and pasted" old data onto computer-generated paperwork it gave to Alaska instead of using actual findings needed to certify the work.

Although the work might have been performed correctly, Nixon told The Seattle Times, the lack of proper paperwork undercut a fundamental tenet of federal air-safety regulations — the ability to trace and audit the calibration and repair history of a tool or part.

"You don't assume" work has been done right, Nixon said. "You have to have the paperwork to back it up."

The Federal Aviation Administration requires meticulous record-keeping to catch errors before they lead to major problems and to trace maintenance history after a crash or adverse event.

In addition to OSHA, Nixon went to the FAA, which determined that American had provided adequate data to Alaska and that the airline had met its duty to oversee the work.

Alaska, alerted to the FAA inquiry, conducted its own audit, concluding American's work had been done according to specifications.

But as a precaution, Alaska ceased using American for calibration work last November, said Alaska spokeswoman Caroline Boren.

The airline also stopped using American for other repair work three months ago after learning from OSHA about Nixon's complaint with that agency, Boren said. Alaska could reconsider whether to resume business with the company, Boren said.

OSHA didn't judge whether Nixon had identified an actual safety violation, because that is the FAA's job, said Dean Ikeda, OSHA's deputy regional administrator in Seattle.

"We determined that she did raise a valid issue about aviation safety, and our investigation determined there was merit to her complaint about retaliation," Ikeda said.

American and Nixon said she will receive $29,240 in back wages and medical benefits. Nixon found a new job in June, working for an aviation-repair station.

She is among a small number of people who have settled their cases under the whistle-blower law. Of 545 complaints filed nationally since the law went into effect in 2000, 56 have been settled. Most complaints are found to have no merit.

Nixon worked for American for 20 months, beginning in January 2006. Her duties included accounts payable, as well as paper and computer work, according to her OSHA complaint.

She told OSHA she was keenly aware of federal air-safety rules because she had previously worked 20 years for Alaska Airlines, handling an array of tool-repair duties.

American's contract work for Alaska included recalibrating oxygen regulators used in flight masks, as well as nitrogen regulators used in tires, struts and other equipment. The regulators are periodically recalibrated to ensure they are delivering the proper pounds of pressure per square inch.

American hired a subcontractor to do the actual work.

Nixon told OSHA that American didn't require the subcontractor to submit mandatory, detailed data on how findings were reached — including whether checks conformed to specifications set down by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

American "obtained an old certification and copied and pasted it on a sales order and then continued to follow this procedure on every oxygen and nitrogen regulator that came in for service," Nixon wrote in her OSHA complaint.

"There was never any proof provided as to what standards were used, and whether or not the tools and equipment were in tolerance," she wrote.

Nixon said she discovered the practice around September 2007, when she was asked to do the Alaska certification work for an employee about to go on vacation.

She said she complained to supervisors, telling one, "I am concerned about public safety. We all fly on Alaska."

That supervisor laughed, according to Nixon, and suggested Nixon was being dramatic.

In one instance, Nixon said, American's owner, Brown, walked into a room as Nixon was telling a supervisor, "The FAA takes these certifications and calibrations very seriously."

On Sept. 28, 2007, Nixon said, she was handed a paycheck and a letter telling her she was being laid off because of the company's continuing loss of revenue.

Brown, who serves as American's president and chief executive officer, disputed to The Times Nixon's version events, emphasizing that the FAA found no wrongdoing after looking at the paperwork.

Brown said Nixon was not the victim of retaliation and called the settlement a "reflection of our desire to put this behind us and concentrate on our business."

"Why would I terminate her? I would try to correct the problem," Brown said.

Nixon told The Times she was satisfied with the settlement but disappointed with the FAA, which notified her last December that it had found no violations.

She alleged an FAA inspector told American in advance of plans to examine its workplace, then didn't interview key people or fully examine records.

"Therefore, I feel it was a bogus investigation," she said.

The inspector told her she should be happy because some changes had resulted from her complaint and that Alaska was more aware of its responsibilities, Nixon said.

The FAA declined to answer questions, saying records must be requested under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said in some cases where no violations are found, improvements in procedures still may occur. He said he didn't know if that happened in the case brought by Nixon.

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com