Pilots Sue American Over Drug Testing

A union representing 7,000 American Airlines pilots has filed a $1-million lawsuit seeking to keep the Ft. Worth-based carrier from enforcing a new policy of required drug tests.

The Allied Pilots Assn. filed the suit Tuesday in federal court in Dallas, seeking an order barring American from conducting the tests on the grounds that doing so would violate federal labor law.

Union officials seek $1 million in punitive and unspecified damages from American.

The union contends that American was required to negotiate with airline employees before changing drug-testing procedures. If negotiations had failed, the dispute would have been turned over to federal mediators.

The suit alleges that the airline changed the policy unilaterally and that requiring a pilot to submit to a urine test or risk losing his or her job is an invasion of privacy.