AUGUSTA(AP) – The Maine Human Rights Commission has ruled unanimously in favor of a pilot from Bangor who claimed he was wrongfully fired by a Vermont-based freight service for refusing to fly because of safety concerns.

Business Air Inc., doing business as AirNow, maintained that other job performance problems led to Aric Merrow’s dismissal.

The two sides agreed that Merrow refused to fly March 31 when an altitude indicator, which shows the aircraft’s position relative to the horizon, failed to work prior to the scheduled takeoff.

AirNow argued Monday that Merrow could have easily replaced the faulty indicator with a similar device on the right side of the airplane.

“This was not significant rewiring of the aircraft,” but simply a matter of unplugging and plugging in the operable indicator, said Jeffrey Peters, an attorney representing the company. “He just went home,” rather than fly, Peters said.

AirNow claimed that Merrow had refused to help move freight from one airplane to another, but Merrow’s lawyer, Gregory Dorr, said his client was given a request, not an order. Merrow had worked from 5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. that day, Dorr said, and he went home when it was clear that his help was not needed.

Commission investigator Barbara Lelli sided with Merrow on the safety issue.

“Did he have a good faith belief that there was a safety problem? I thought he did,” Lelli said.

The commission 5-0 finding that there was reasonable grounds for Merrow’s complaint that he was terminated as a whistleblower means that the case goes to a hearing in which the two sides try to negotiate a settlement. If no agreement is reached, the case can continue to Superior Court.

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