Oakland is Suing Southwest Airlines (Again) Over Alleged Employee Sick Leave Violations

Southwest Airlines is being sued by the City of Oakland over alleged violations of a paid sick leave law despite the fact that the two sides were meant to have reached a settlement on the issue in 2020.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in the Alameda County Superior Court over claims that Southwest is still failing to comply with a sick leave law that was overwhelmingly approved by voters nearly ten years ago.

Four years ago, Southwest finally reached a settlement with the City of Oakland, but the airline’s continued non-compliance with the spirit of the law “has undermined the health of its workforce, their families, and the public,” the lawsuit alleges.

The latest lawsuit dates back to 2017 when Southwest employees based out of Oakland complained that the airline’s internal sick leave provisions violated the City’s far more generous policy.

Until Oakland introduced its sick leave law, Southwest Airlines only offered what it calls ‘Company Hours’ sick leave which only covers the employee’s own sickness. Company Hours can’t be used to care for family members or routine medical care.

In addition, Company Hours can also result in attendance points, which could, in turn, lead to disciplinary action and even dismissal.

In order to comply with Oakland’s sick leave provisions, Southwest introduced a parallel policy known as ‘Protected Sick Leave’, but City of Oakland Attorney Barbara J. Parker alleges that Southwest has been violating its own policy.

One of Oakland’s biggest complaints against Southwest is that the airline refuses to let employees ‘carry over’ accrued paid sick leave – a ‘use it or lose it’ provision that is expressly forbidden under the City’s ordinance.

The 2020 settlement agreement was meant to address this violation, but Southwest has allegedly refused to restore all of the sick leave that some employees accrued between 2017 and 2020.

Since then, however, Parker says that Southwest has been involved in further violations of Oakland’s sick leave laws and has retaliated against employees who made complaints or tried to access their sick leave records.

“One of the unlawful conditions Southwest places on employees is that they cannot use their accrued Protected Sick Leave unless they also have corresponding Company Hours available to cover an absence,” the civil complaint against the airline alleges.

“In practice, this means that an employee who wishes to use their accrued Protected Sick Leave to care for their child cannot do so if they do not have corresponding Company Hours for that absence.”

The lawsuit cites one employee who tried to use their protected sick leave to care for their sick child. The employee had accrued nearly 11 hours of protected sick leave and thought this would cover their 7.2-hour shift, but Southwest allegedly refused the request because the employee only had six accrued hours in the airline’s parallel ‘Company Hours’ policy.

When protected sick leave is refused, employees must either use Company Hours or take unauthorized time off, which can result in attendance points.

The lawsuit explains that the City of Oakland and Southwest have spent years “negotiating and attempting to resolve these issues short of litigation,” although, so far, without success.

“Despite the City’s numerous attempts to secure compliance short of filing a civil lawsuit, Southwest has willfully failed to modify its non-compliant policies and practices and to remedy the harm to Oakland employees and the City,” the complaint continues.

Southwest has built a significant presence out of Oakland Airport, and the airline has been a vocal supporter of the airport’s decision to rename itself ‘San Francisco Bay’ – despite the threat of legal action from neighboring San Francisco International Airport.

The airline has dismissed the City of Oakland’s lawsuit as ‘frivolous’ and says it will be defending itself against the claims.

“Southwest Airlines fully complies with applicable sick leave laws in Oakland and California, as well as with the terms of a December 2020 settlement agreement with the city,” a spokesperson for the airline commented.

“Although Southwest remains willing to address the City’s concerns about sick leave policies, the airline is prepared to vigorously defend itself against these frivolous claims in court.”

This isn’t the first time that Southwest has gotten in trouble over local paid sick leave laws, and last year, the airline refused to comply with a Colorado ordinance that was designed to give Denver-based flight attendants the right to protected paid sick leave.

The State of Colorado slapped Southwest with fines of more than $1.3 million but the airline argued that flight attendants weren’t protected by the sick leave rules because of a national collective bargaining agreement.

Airlines have long argued that local sick leave laws in several states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Oregon, and Washington, don’t apply to pilots or flight attendants because of the 1970s-era Airline Deregulation Act, which brings them under the jurisdiction of federal laws.