Federal government suing Alaska air ambulance operator on behalf of Wasilla pilot

MAT-SU – The federal government is suing an Alaskan air ambulance operator on behalf of a Wasilla pilot and Army National Guardsman who claims the company wouldn’t rehire him when he returned from an overseas deployment.

Chief Warrant Officer Third Class Jonathon L. Goodwin is the pilot in the suit, which was filed in Anchorage and announced on Thursday.

The US Department of Justice said in a press release that Goodwin is a 20-year veteran of the guard where he serves as a fixed-wing and helicopter pilot. He was flying for Air Methods Corp. in a contract with LifeMed Alaska when he was called up for nine months of active duty including a stint in Iraq.

When he returned, DOJ says, he wanted to go back to flying air ambulances through that same Air Methods contract with LifeMed.

“LifeMed refused to accept Goodwin for the contract position due to LifeMed’s bias against recently returned service members as well as an unwillingness to accommodate Goodwin’s possible future military obligations,” alleges a DOJ press release.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994 bans discrimination based on military service. It also mandates that employers take back service members after their deployment ends and give them the same jobs they left or something comparable.

This is a developing story. See the Sunday edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman for more.

— Andrew Wellner