LAKE IN THE HILLS – A pilot fired more than three years ago will be reinstated and paid more than $500,000 after investigators determined he was illegally terminated from the Lake in the Hills-based Northern Illinois Flight Center, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that officials at the flight center broke the law in spring 2009 when they dismissed an Illinois pilot because he contacted the Federal Aviation Administration to discuss violations of the pilot certification process, according to a news release.

The violations revolve around whistle-blower protection provisions in the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, the news release said.