Suit Tells of Trouble in Airport Security

ALBANY - David Erickson earned two Bronze Stars for heroism in the first Gulf War, leading a tank brigade of 300 soldiers and 150 vehicles into battle. Back on American soil, though, in 2003, the 47-year-old retired major found himself waging a very different war, this one, allegedly, against three supervisors intent on harassing employees at Albany International Airport.

Erickson, of Altamont, is suing U.S. Department of Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, claiming he was fired from a job as a Transportation Security Administration screener manager at the Colonie facility because he wouldn't go along with the harassment.

Subsequently, Erickson himself was targeted and fired, because he objected to, and reported, the hostile work environment, according to court papers.

Erickson was told he was being canned for misconduct and scheduling errors, accusations he vehemently denies. "Whenever someone was sick, what they wanted was for me to write them up," he said.

That included one woman who had available time, and was battling cancer, and a man who was attending the funeral of a family member, he said: "It's wrong in America for this to happen. This is not just about me, but about the 50 or 60 people they got rid of, before I left.

"For a lot of people," he went on, "that was all they had."

Within six months of Erickson's employment at the airport, he went from an outstanding employee to the dregs, said attorney Steve DiNigris of Washington, D.C., "simply because he would not target females and others for improper treatment by the named supervisors in the complaint."

The federal lawsuit filed late Friday says Erickson's personnel file was loaded with trumped-up bad work reviews and complaints that eventually got him fired. He seeks $300,000 in damages as well as lost wages.

Erickson's claim comes under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, amended in 1991, that protects employees from being abused in the workplace and from being targeted for trying to stick up for others.

The federal government took control of security at airports to improve passenger and luggage screening in the shadow of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But since then, TSA workers claim, operations at Albany International have been chaotic.

A 2004 Homeland Security investigation that centered on allegations of cronyism and coercion cleared the facility's TSA managers of wrongdoing. But federal authorities declined to release their report, saying it was classified as "security sensitive."

The 2004 investigation came at the urging of U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, who is a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

Issues raised by screeners also include complaints that security violations routinely go unreported. On Monday, Sweeney said he remains unsatisfied with the response to the ongoing issues between management and TSA screeners at the airport.

He said he is extremely displeased that issues are ongoing "after receiving false promises from TSA that they would be addressed."

In an Oct. 10 letter to TSA Assistant Administrator Peter Iovino, sent after his staff met with screeners, Sweeney called for the DHS inspector general to resume the original inquiry: "I believe it is unacceptable to stand idly by while Albany International continues to lose good men and women."

To date, Sweeney said, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission has received five complaints from TSA employees; four of them are from women. Things are so bad he said prospective workers repeatedly fail assessments of their abilities, yet are hired anyway for a lack of good candidates. Supervisors take and retake tests to raise their scores in order to keep their jobs, he said.

Former screeners, including Erickson, have accused TSA managers of manipulating internal investigations to guarantee some workers would lose their jobs. Dozens were fired or forced to resign for a series of alleged violations that included sexual harassment, misconduct, credit card fraud, drug abuse and lying on job applications.

Among the managers named in the lawsuit is Paul B. Varville, the airport's TSA director. He has defended the firings and contends the allegations are baseless. Varville didn't return a call on Monday; TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said she can't comment on pending litigation.

Also under fire are Richard Alhborn, Varville's assistant, and Michael A. Klusacek, the scheduling operations officer and acting deputy director. Some former workers accuse Klusacek - a former State Police internal affairs investigator - of coercing false statements against employees to get them fired. In the past, TSA officials denied the allegations.

Klusacek has since been reassigned as an aviation security inspector.

Along with money damages, Erickson has requested a jury trial. He wants the derogatory statements, letters, e-mails and official performance review files to be removed from his employment file, and for the Department of Homeland Security to be enjoined from any further retaliation.

Erickson said he began work at the airport Nov. 2, 2002, and by Jan. 15, 2003, had already received an "exceeding the standards" rating by the defendants. Later that January, though, he said he began to notice what upper management was doing.

TSA's turnover rate is 40 percent, he said: "You can't tell me that all those people are bad."

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