A senior United Airlines pilot who was disoriented and slurring his speech following a head injury claims he was instead accused of being an alcoholic, forced into inpatient rehab and threatened with grounding unless he admitted to an allegedly nonexistent addiction.
When Capt. Michael Tallon denied he had troubles with alcohol, he was informed by higher-ups that “if he did not confess to having a drinking problem, he would ‘never fly a United plane again,’” according to a bombshell federal lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
Once he begrudgingly checked into residential treatment, Tallon, 56, was “subjected to repetitive and intrusive group therapies focused exclusively on alcohol use, abuse and dependence,” his complaint states, adding, “None of these were appropriate given [Tallon’s] actual medical condition – a head injury.”
After his release, the complaint says Tallon showed up dutifully for daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and blew into a breathalyzer twice a day, among other things, in order to comply with United’s demands. Upon presenting a second opinion from his personal physician who reported finding no evidence at all of any substance use disorder, United sent Tallon to a psychologist to deal with his “denial” issues, according to the complaint.
United, Tallon’s complaint alleges, “failed to provide reasonable accommodations for [Tallon’s] actual condition – post-concussion syndrome – while simultaneously subjecting him to burdensome and discriminatory treatment requirements for a condition he did not have.”
Nearly two years later, Tallon was fired for refusing to keep up the charade, according to the complaint.
“I can’t believe it, still,” Tallon told The Independent. “… If I thought I had cancer but five doctors told me I didn’t, would you fire me for refusing chemotherapy?”
Tallon, a “check airman” who trained and evaluated pilots flying United’s 737 fleet, had nearly three decades of experience and was earning more than $400,000 when he was terminated. He said he has never been a big drinker, that everyone he worked with knew he might go out for “a beer or two, and that’s…
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