Narrative:

Upon arriving in an aircraft with an MEL on the 'refuel/defuel panel' which stated the aircraft must be overwing fueled; I instructed the first officer to supervise the fueling while I went inside to retrieve paperwork. When I returned to the aircraft; the first officer was obviously upset and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that when she informed the fueler that the aircraft needed to be overwing re-fueled due to the MEL; he told her he was going to pressure refuel the aircraft and for her to get out of the way. She again tried to reason with him and he again basically told her to go away and proceeded to pressure refuel the aircraft which was totally against the MEL. All this happened while I was away from the aircraft retrieving the dispatch releases. When I learned of the situation; I went outside to talk to the fueler who was still there. I asked him why he did not follow the MEL or the first officer's instructions; and he told me his supervisor told him to just pressure refuel the aft. I told him I wanted to speak to his supervisor. The supervisor showed up and basically told me they don't over wing because it takes too long and they don't want to do the math. I told him that he did not have the authority to make that decision and I wanted to see his supervisor. Now we were a good 10-15 minutes past departure. The lead supervisor showed at the aircraft and when I told him what had happened he was very apologetic and said he would take care of the situation with his employees. The first officer asked me if we needed to call maintenance and have the aircraft inspected. I told her I don't think so and we departed and arrived in ZZZ with no further problems. In retrospect; I now believe we should have informed maintenance and let them make the determination as to whether the aircraft was ok for dispatch. However; I was pushing time constraints and did not want to take any further delays. This event occurred because the fueler refused to do his job and fuel the aircraft in accordance with the MEL. The placard inside the fueling panel door clearly states that the aircraft must be overwing fueled. He blatantly and deliberately ignored instructions from the first officer who was in command in my absence. Departing without having the aircraft inspected by maintenance was clearly my decision only as pilot in command.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB145 Captain reports noncompliance with MEL by fueler who refuses to over wing refuel and uses the MEL'ed pressure refueling system. Captain fails to inform Maintenance of this incident prior to departure.

Narrative: Upon arriving in an aircraft with an MEL on the 'Refuel/Defuel Panel' which stated the aircraft must be overwing fueled; I instructed the First Officer to supervise the fueling while I went inside to retrieve paperwork. When I returned to the aircraft; the First Officer was obviously upset and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that when she informed the fueler that the aircraft needed to be overwing re-fueled due to the MEL; he told her he was going to pressure refuel the aircraft and for her to get out of the way. She again tried to reason with him and he again basically told her to go away and proceeded to pressure refuel the aircraft which was totally against the MEL. All this happened while I was away from the aircraft retrieving the Dispatch Releases. When I learned of the situation; I went outside to talk to the fueler who was still there. I asked him why he did not follow the MEL or the First Officer's instructions; and he told me his Supervisor told him to just pressure refuel the aft. I told him I wanted to speak to his Supervisor. The Supervisor showed up and basically told me they don't over wing because it takes too long and they don't want to do the math. I told him that he did not have the authority to make that decision and I wanted to see his Supervisor. Now we were a good 10-15 minutes past departure. The Lead Supervisor showed at the aircraft and when I told him what had happened he was very apologetic and said he would take care of the situation with his employees. The First Officer asked me if we needed to call Maintenance and have the aircraft inspected. I told her I don't think so and we departed and arrived in ZZZ with no further problems. In retrospect; I now believe we should have informed Maintenance and let them make the determination as to whether the aircraft was OK for dispatch. However; I was pushing time constraints and did not want to take any further delays. This event occurred because the fueler refused to do his job and fuel the aircraft in accordance with the MEL. The placard inside the fueling panel door clearly states that the aircraft must be overwing fueled. He blatantly and deliberately ignored instructions from the First Officer who was in command in my absence. Departing without having the aircraft inspected by Maintenance was clearly my decision only as Pilot in Command.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.