Court Rules That Part 91 Operators Can Apply “Age 65 Rule” to Their Pilots

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently issued a decision that allowed a Part 91 operator to continue to apply the “Age 65 rule” originally intended for airline pilots to its operations, according to NBAA. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) argued that age is not an appropriate measure of a pilot’s qualifications and that a mandatory retirement age not required by law violated the federal Age Discrimination and Employment Act. In 2006, the EEOC sued ExxonMobil, alleging that the company discriminated against pilots when it forced them to retire at age 60 (the retirement age for airline pilots at that time). The Fifth Circuit affirmed a decision of the trial court to dismiss the EEOC’s lawsuit.