Airline Can’t Dodge Virgin America Wage Class Action Lawsuit

Flight attendants who filed the Virgin America wage class action lawsuit are still prevailing as the airline remains unsuccessful in having the lawsuit tossed from California federal court.

Approximately 1400 flight attendants accused Virgin America of violating wage and hour laws by shorting workers both wages and meal breaks in the Virgin America wage class action lawsuit.

In early January 2017, a California federal judge found that California labor law continues to apply to company wage and hour policies for work that is performed outside of the state.

In his action to deny large portions of Virgin America’s motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar stated “Virgin made these critical decisions regarding how it would pay its flight attendants, and proceeded to pay its flight attendants in accordance with these decisions, from its headquarters in Burlingame, California.”

He continued, “Therefore, the very actions giving rise to potential liability – that is, the failure to pay for all hours worked, the failure to pay overtime, the failure to provide accurate wage statements and the failure to pay waiting time penalties to just charged employees – occurred in California.”

However, Judge Tigar did state that the meal break policy instituted by Virgin was not decided by a centralized policy like its pay policy was, so any potential meal violations that were alleged that occurred outside of California are presumably not covered under California labor law.

Judge Tigar also sided with Virgin regarding a San Francisco minimum wage ordinance, stating that because the airport was located outside of San Francisco city limits, the ordinance did not apply to flight attendants.

Allegations in the Virgin America Wage Class Action Lawsuit

In the original Virgin America wage class action lawsuit filed in 2015, the flight attendants alleged that Virgin denied them pay for the time they spent before, after and in between flights, and also denied pay for writing up incident reports, training time and for mandatory drug tests.

Additionally, the flight attendants alleged that Virgin neglected to provide accurate wage statements and failed to pay minimum wages and overtime.

In addition to denying pay, the flight attendants in the Virgin America wage class action lawsuit claimed that Virgin denied flight attendants meal and rest breaks.

The class of flight attendants was granted class certification in November 2016. The class included California-based flight attendants who worked for Virgin America since March 18, 2011.

A California resident subclass was also certified, as was a “waiting time penalties” subclass for flight attendants who left their employment with the company since March 18, 2012.

The Virgin America Wage Class Action Lawsuit is Bernstein et al. v. Virgin America Inc., Case No. 3:15-cV-02277, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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