Elaine Thompson/AP
TSA Reinstates Fired Pregnant Worker
An agency internal review board overturned employee’s termination, finding it violated her due process rights.
The Transportation Security Administration has reinstated a pregnant employee who was fired in February, according to the union representing the worker.
An internal review board at TSA overturned the agency’s decision to terminate Amanda Kincannon, a transportation security officer in Detroit, concluding that TSA violated her due process rights by failing to provide her with all the documentation used to fire her.
The agency fired Kincannon because her pregnancy “adversely impacts safe and effective performance of job tasks,” according to a Feb. 4 fitness for duty review signed by Dr. Fabrice Czarnecki, a medical review officer at TSA.
Czarnecki noted that Kincannon’s pregnancy, along with the pelvic pain she experienced as a result of her endometriosis, restricted her ability to perform certain tasks associated with her TSO job, including lifting, standing, walking, squatting and bending.
The American Federation of Government Employees said that the agency’s move to fire Kincannon, who is due at the end of April, predated her pregnancy. Kincannon had suffered from endometriosis, a chronic illness where the lining of the uterus – the endometrium – grows outside the uterus. Symptoms include abdominal and pelvic pain. Czarnecki’s Feb. 4 review noted that Kincannon’s endometriosis was in remission at the time.
Still, the agency found her “medically unqualified” for duty, based on other medical documentation provided, as well as medical and psychological guidelines for the TSO job series. A Feb. 5 letter from Assistant Federal Security Director for Screening Jimmy Briseno formally informed Kincannon of her termination. “I note that since your removal was for non-disciplinary reasons, you would be eligible for unemployment benefits and should contact your state unemployment office,” the letter said.
TSA declined to answer any questions about Kincannon’s firing and subsequent reinstatement after the union took action. “It is our policy not to publicly comment on personnel matters unless a criminal act has occurred,” said Michael McCarthy, a TSA spokesman, over email.