Labor Department administrative law judge Scott Morris has approved a compensatory settlement between Delta Air Lines and Karlene Petitt after finding that the airline retaliated against Petitt for raising safety issues related to the airline’s flight operations. Judge Morris reportedly approved the settlement—believed to be in the sum of $500,000—last Friday, closing a six-year dispute that embroiled former FAA Administrator Steve Dickson.
In 2016, Petitt, then a Delta Boeing 777 first officer, raised safety issues about aspects of the airline’s operations in an Air 21 report she jointly filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the FAA. According to Petitt’s lawyers, her concerns related to Delta’s handling of pilot fatigue, pilot training, pilot training records, and what she described as Delta’s failure to properly maintain its FAA-mandated safety management system (SMS) program.
