Pilot Says Miramar College Discriminates

SAN DIEGO (CN) - A longtime flight instructor sued Miramar College for discrimination and wrongful firing, claiming that when it introduced its new Chief Pilot, defendant Amy Fraher, she told her new subordinates, "There are too many gray-haired instructors in aviation operations. I will replace them with new hires."

Gustave Schwartz claims that Fraher, "with the consent and approval of Miramar and the SDCCD (San Diego Community College District) replaced the older instructors without thousands of hours of flight time with younger instructors with less than a thousand hours of aircraft flight time and who may not even be certified as flight instructors by the Federal Aviation Administration."

Schwartz says he taught continuously at Miramar since 1975. He claims Fraher's action, ratified by the college, have "destroyed the aviation department of Miramar as enrollment has plummeted by 66 percent as a direct result of replacing the older instructors with younger instructors with little or no experience or flight time."

Represented in Superior Court by Edward Rose Jr., Schwartz demands punitive damages for age discrimination, wrongful firing, breach of contract and unfair competition.

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