Cathay Pacific Airways pilots will receive $16.65 million to settle California wage and hour violations going back to 2017.
Los Angeles, CAAirline workers in California are likely flying high with news that Cathay Pacific pilots will receive $16.65M to resolve a wage and hour class action lawsuit filed back in 2017. The pilots claimed the airline violated California’s labor laws relating to meal and rest periods, overtime and reserve duty pay – in some instances they weren’t even paid minimum wage. The settlement, however, tallies up to about three times as much as Cathay’s prior offer.
Including pre- and post-flight duties, flying to and from Hong Kong and their home bases in Los Angeles or San Francisco took pilots about 14 hours—without getting overtime compensation. Cathay argued that California meal and rest break laws don't apply to international flights and the pilots had duty-free meal and rest periods. The airline also said the employment contracts ensured pilots were paid at least minimum wage for all hours worked.
The case waffled back and forth for eight years. Judge Chhabria put the pilots’ lawsuit on hold in 2018 – he waited until the California Supreme Court decided upon consolidated federal actions brought by pilots and flight attendants who sued Delta Air Lines and United Airlines Inc. over labor violations, specifically that the airlines improperly paid flight attendants on an hourly basis for all their work. Here are the series of events:
2018: California-based pilots for Cathay Pacific Airways Limited can sue the Hong Kong-headquartered airline for alleged violations of California wage-and-hour laws even though they perform a majority of their work outside of the state, a federal judge ruled, as reported by Reuters. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria rejected the airline’s bid to dismiss the pilots’ proposed class action. The airline had argued that California law does not cover the pilots' out-of-state work.
2020: California justices ruled that the state's labor code and minimum wage statutes apply to United and Delta pilots based in the state and rejected the airlines' assertion that employees spent most of their time in federal airspace and can't be subject to the state laws.
2021: The Ninth Circuit found that United and Delta can't duck claims that they shorted flight crews on pay. It found that federal law doesn't bar California rules from applying to interstate transportation workers such as pilots and flight attendants.
January 2023: Cathay claimed plaintiffs were exempt from California’s Labor Code under California’s “Learned Professional Exemption.” The Plaintiffs argued that the exemption is inapplicable because the exemption “customarily” requires attaining a college or advanced degree as a standard prerequisite to satisfy the first prong of the exemption. Cathay does not even require a high school diploma to be a pilot, although of course requisite technical skills are typically acquired through flight experience and instrument ratings. Plaintiffs also argued that they do not spend the majority of their time performing exempt tasks requiring intellectual learning or independent judgment.
April 2023: The Court rejected Cathay’s motion for summary judgment, adding that The Airline Transport Pilot License, the FAA’s highest level of certification attainable by commercial pilots, does not require a college degree.
The $16.65 million deal will compensate all pilots who worked in California for Cathay from June 5, 2013, to the date of preliminary approval, excluding those who separately settled their claims with the airline out of court, according to Law360. The case is Goldthorpe et al. v. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. et al., case number 3:17-cv-03233, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
If you or a loved one have suffered losses in this case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to an employment law lawyer who may evaluate your California Labor Law claim at no cost or obligation.