TSA employee appeals firing for refusal to pat down passengers

A Transportation Security Administration worker who was fired after refusing to switch from inspecting baggage to conducting pat-down searches of passengers, has filed multiple complaints against the agency.

In an equal employment opportunity complaint filed with the Homeland Security Department last month, the worker, L.J. Coon, claimed that his rights were violated after he said he was opposed on personal and religious grounds to searching people. Coon, who started his TSA career as a baggage handler in Londonderry, N.H., in 2004, also has a complaint pending in the New Hampshire court system, claiming unfair denial of unemployment compensation.

Coon said when he began work he was trained to inspect baggage. But more than a year later, he said, he was instructed to be cross-trained as a passenger screener. Coon, who was raised a Methodist, said he believes individual body searches are intrusive and objectionable on both a religious and personal level.

He said the possibility of cross-training was not discussed during his 19-month tenure with the agency, or when he was hired and trained by government contractors. He said that, at first, his manager's sarcastic response to his objection was to instruct him to "wear four pairs of gloves" to allay his discomfort with the pat-downs. Later, he said, TSA managers claimed they had "the right to change work responsibilities" at any time.

"It's a violation of my personal beliefs," Coon said.

Coon's refusal to make the switch first had managers calling him "insubordinate," he said. Later they requested his resignation. In September 2005, he said, he was fired, and denied unemployment compensation from TSA. After four failed appeals of the denial in several New Hampshire courts, he has taken his case to the state Supreme Court, and now awaits a decision on whether or not the court will hear his fifth and final appeal.

Arnold Rocklin-Weare, chairman of the New Hampshire Employment Security Appeal Tribunal, said in a December 2005 decision that Coon "cannot claim that there was a substantial change in working conditions [from] when he was first hired, because the generic title he was hired for included both positions." Coon also waited too long to file his case, failing to "exercise his right of appeal during his job loss process," the decision stated.

The DHS official Coon said was handling the EEO complaint did not respond to requests for comment. TSA would not discuss the matter.

"The requirements of the Privacy Act preclude us from discussing Mr. Coon's employment or the specifics that led to his departure from TSA," said Ann Davis, an agency spokeswoman. "It is TSA's policy not to comment on personnel matters."

Coon said his disagreement with management over having to perform pat-down searches was the first blemish on his record in more than a year. He claimed to have a perfect attendance record, and had reaped several awards for his work, including a nomination for "screener of the year," before his firing.

In the interim, Coon said he has struggled to support his family in several odd jobs, most in carpentry.

The American Civil Liberties Union's New Hampshire division is also considering taking action on Coon's behalf, but has yet to make a decision, an official at the organization's office said.