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American Airlines Training Pay Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Plaintiff Robert Wilhelm has filed a wage and hour class action lawsuit against American Airlines.
- Why: Wilhelm alleges American Airlines fails to adequately pay hourly employees for the time they spend completing mandatory training.
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in Illinois federal court.
American Airlines failed to adequately pay hourly employees for the time they spent completing mandatory training, according to a recent wage and hour class action lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court.
Plaintiff Robert Wilhelm alleges that many hourly American Airlines employees are required to complete quarterly training modules, which typically last about four or five hours each.
However, the employees are expected to complete the training modules after their shifts are complete and they have already clocked out of work, the American Airlines class action lawsuit alleges.
As a result, Wilhelm says many hourly American Airlines employees are not paid for the time they spend on the mandatory training in violation of federal and state wage and hour laws. Some employees must work more than 40 hours in a work week to complete the mandatory training but are not compensated at the overtime rate for their time, Wilhelm alleges.
“[American Airlines] regularly fails to pay plaintiff and other hourly employees for the time they spend completing the quarterly training or pays them their regular hourly pay rate rather than an overtime pay rate, even if plaintiff or other hourly employees have already worked over 40 hours that week,” the class action lawsuit states.
Employees who do not complete the training can face discipline or termination.
Wilhelm says he most recently was expected to complete quarterly training modules during the week of Jan. 31 but was not paid for the time he spent completing them.
Class Action: Failure to Pay for Training Violates Wage & Hour Laws
American Airlines’ failure to pay employees for mandatory training violates both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the overtime provisions of the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, the unpaid overtime class action lawsuit alleges.
“In each week in which [Wilhelm] was required to complete the quarterly training modules without clocking in, [he] has incurred damages,” according to the lawsuit.
Wilhelm filed the American Airlines class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and a proposed class of other hourly American Airlines employees who were required to complete quarterly training modules in the past three years.
Hourly American Airlines employees including cargo workers, fleet service clerks, gate agents and mechanics were allegedly required to complete the quarterly training modules.
Do you think American Airlines should be on the hook to pay hourly employees back wages for the time they spent on the mandatory training modules? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Wilhelm is represented by Colby Qualls and Joshua Jon Sanford of Sanford Law Firm PLLC.
The American Airlines Training Pay Class Action Lawsuit is Robert Wilhelm v. American Airlines Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-00690, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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