Counsel for US Airways Asks Judge to Reject Overtime Claims by Certified Class

San Francisco, CAAttorneys for US Airways in a California labor class action lawsuit filed in 2012 asked a federal judge in a hearing last month to reject California overtime claims brought by a certified class of US Airways fleet service agents, claiming that the unionized workers' collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and the Railroad Labor Act (RLA) make the workers exempt from certain state labor laws.

At the January 13 hearing, US Airways' attorney Adam KohSweeney argued that it's not uncommon for state legislatures to "carve out" Railway Labor Act collective bargaining agreements due to interstate commerce concerns when it comes to flight crews.

In a January 26 motion for Angeles et al v. US Airways et al, Case No. 3:12-cv-05860, US District Court for the Northern District of California KohSweeney responded to class attorneys' request for the court to take notice of "voluminous" legislative history materials regarding Assembly Bill 60, which concerns overtime exemptions.

In his motion, KohSweeney argued that none of the legislative history materials supports the plaintiffs' argument that the collective bargaining exemption contained in the California Labor Code conflicts with the Railroad Labor Act exemption.

"The plain language of the two statutes is clear and nothing in this language creates a conflict between the RLA exemption and the CBA exemption", KohSweeney wrote.

The judge has yet to rule on a motion filed in October 2016 by attorneys for US Airways in the class action to decertify "grace period" fleet workers certified in a 2014 ruling. The grace period class of workers claimed that they should have been compensated for work performed in unpaid downtime between clocking in and out.

KohSweeney said that US Airways provided the class with more than 69,000 pages of requests from employees who requested compensation during the grace period and argued that the time was unpaid because workers were free to do as they pleased during that period and that in some situations, workers had time to put on their gear after clocking in.

However, Judge Breyer said that discovery suggested that different airports handled compensation requests differently when it came to putting on gear and seeking compensation for donning and doffing, the term used to describe time spent putting on and taking off uniforms, protective gear and other work-related clothing.

According to Law 360, the judge also questioned differing times presented for donning and doffing by both parties' attorneys:
"Judge Breyer also wondered if the amount of time it took to put on safety gear was worth the trouble, asking if it really took five minutes as the plaintiffs alleged, or “less than one minute,” as KohSweeney said.

“Really? Five minutes? These are some slow dressers,” the judge said. “How long does it really take to put on knee pads?”