Alaska Airways has been accused of refusing to adjust to a broad sick depart legislation launched in Washington State that will grant flight attendants day off to look after sick relations with out penalty.
In June, the Supreme Courtroom denied Alaska Airways and the Air Transport Affiliation of America the best to additional attraction the difficulty, however the flight attendant union claims that months later, the airline nonetheless isn’t complying with the legislation.
In 2018, Washington launched its Paid Sick Go away Regulation which is supposed to cowl all workers who’re primarily based within the State. The legislation grants workers a minimal of an hour’s paid sick depart for each 40 hours labored and it may be utilized by the worker to look after themself or a member of the family, together with preventative care.
Staff are allowed to begin utilizing this paid sick depart after 90 days on the job and any time taken off below the sick depart legislation can’t be counted as an absence that will result in disciplinary motion or accrue attendance factors.
Alaska Airways and the Air Transport Affiliation of America, nonetheless, argued that the sick depart legislation interferes with federal legal guidelines together with the Air Deregulation Act which creates a uniform rulebook for the aviation trade throughout the USA.
As an alternative, Alaska Airways and its commerce physique argued that airways already supplied paid sick depart to flight attendants by way of “extensively” negotiated collective bargaining agreements and that in return, airways had the best to watch efficiency.
One of many methods Alaska Airways does that is by way of attendance factors.
The Air Transport Affiliation of America shortly filed a lawsuit in opposition to Washington State, however an area courtroom threw out the case in 2019. The lawsuit was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Appeals Courtroom which additionally threw out the case in 2021, after which it was appealed to the Supreme Courtroom.
The choice by the Supreme Courtroom to not hear the attraction would, you’ll assume, be the tip of the matter, however Alaska Airways is now allegedly arguing that litigation being introduced in opposition to native paid depart legal guidelines in different States may affect the scenario in Washington.
In June, Southwest Airways filed a lawsuit in opposition to the State of Colorado over its sick depart legal guidelines, once more arguing that it contradicts a collective bargaining settlement between the airline and its flight attendants.
Southwest argues in its lawsuit that complying with Colorado’s guidelines would require it to rent extra flight attendants which might drive up airfares.
There are additionally native paid sick depart legal guidelines in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Oregon which may very well be challenged.
The Affiliation of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) say it “strongly disagrees” with Alaska’s determination to not implement the Washington State sick depart guidelines for Seattle-based flight attendants and is urging crew members to file complaints with the Washington State Division of Labor & Industries.
Alaska Airways was additionally lately refused an attraction by the Supreme Courtroom on California’s meal break provisions for flight attendants primarily based within the State. The airline has warned that it could even pull crew bases from the State as a final resort due to the legislation.
