SkyWest Asks Supreme Court to Review Flight Attendant Class Action

SkyWest wants a decision that revived a flight attendant wage and hour class action lawsuit to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A group of flight attendants accused SkyWest of failing to pay them for work they did on the ground –leading to an hourly wage below the federally mandated minimum wage.

The plaintiffs accused SkyWest of violating federal employment laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, in their class action lawsuit.

The SkyWest class action lawsuit was dismissed, but the plaintiffs won an appeal to the Seventh Circuit reviving their claims. Now, the airline is asking for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court.

SkyWest contends that the Seventh Circuit got it wrong when it reinstated the class action lawsuit claims. Specifically, according to the airline, the Seventh Circuit’s ruling allows state law too much power over interstate commerce, burdening the ability of companies to do business nationwide.

“The Seventh Circuit’s decision strips away vital protections for interstate commerce,” claims SkyWest’s petition to the Supreme Court. “It threatens to make the business of running airlines unworkable. And it undermines this court’s precedents.”

According to the SkyWest class action lawsuit, the airline’s practice of using “block time” leads to the unequal wages. “Block time” refers to clocking flight attendants in at the beginning of the flight, after the cabin door closes, and clocking them out when the plane arrives at its gate.

The plaintiffs say that they and other flight attendants are required to perform a number of tasks before and after they are clocked in and out. Further, they are required to show up to airports with enough time to clear security and make it to the boarding gate – time that they go unpaid.

SkyWest argues that the class action lawsuit claims hang their hat on Illinois employment law. According to the airline, they and other carriers will be forced to navigate state and local employment laws as they soar over each jurisdiction as a result of the Seventh Circuit’s ruling reinstating the SkyWest class action lawsuit.

“To comply with even a single jurisdiction’s laws, an airline may have to track the precise moment the attendant enters and exits the jurisdiction’s airspace, as well as the precise amount of time spent on the ground in that jurisdiction’s airports,” points out SkyWest’s petition. “To comply with similar laws in other jurisdictions, an airline may have to make similar calculations for every state (or, worse, every municipality) in which the flight attendant worked during that trip.”

The plaintiffs in the SkyWest class action lawsuit contend that the issues brought up by the airline have already been resolved by the Supreme Court.

The SkyWest flight attendants are represented by Gregory F. Coleman, Lisa A. White, Adam A. Edwards and Mark E. Silvey of Greg Coleman Law PC, and Edward A. Wallace and Tyler J. Story of Wexler Wallace LLP.

The SkyWest Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is SkyWest Inc., et al. v. Andrea Hirst, et al., Case No. 18-1097, in the U.S. Supreme Court.

UPDATE: On Feb. 13, 2020, in the latest development of the SkyWest wage and hour class action lawsuit, flight attendants stated that a decision made in a separate California class action lawsuit supports their argument.

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