Skycaps Reach Settlement With Airlines In Minimum Wage Lawsuit

An interesting minimum wage lawsuit has just settled that has the potential to affect airport workers, including those at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In the minimum wage case, numerous airport skycaps filed a lawsuit against United Airlines alleging that the companies that the airlines contracts around the country failed to pay them the minimum wage they are entitled to.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all workers are entitled to receive minimum wage. – currently $7.25/an hour, although some states have a higher minimum wage. Further, where individuals – such as skycaps – make a large portion of their through tips, very specific rules apply regarding the amount of tips an employer may use in figuring out what to pay a worker.

If you have questions concerning your pay or believe that you haven’t received the amount of pay you are entitled to, it’s critical to contact a top Atlanta wage and hour attorney right away to discuss your options.

Here, whether the skycaps were receiving the pay they were entitled to became an issue in 2006 when airlines changed the practice of curbside check in. Instead of being free, United as well as many other airlines began imposing a fee of $2 for every bag checked curbside. The skycaps were then required to turn the $2 fee over to the airlines. However, because many customers weren’t aware of the fee, they didn’t pay it and skycaps were forced to use money that was supposed to be their tip to cover the mandatory fee. The lawsuit alleged that this practice violated the FLSA, which provides that tipped employees must be allowed to keep all of their tips, unless they are part of a valid tip pool. Additionally, as a result of this practice, skycaps earned less that the mandatory minimum wage.

The skycap lawsuit was settled for $250,000 and each of the workers involved in the minimum wage case will receive around $1000.

The skycaps involved in this lawsuit worked at various airports around the country, including Denver International Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Logan International Airport in Boston, Miami International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

For more information about minimum wage or tip policies, or think that you may not have been pain all the wages you are entitled to, it is important to speak to an experienced Georgia wage and hour attorney right away. If you believe that you have been denied overtime or that your employer has committed some other violation of the wage and hour laws, you don’t have to file an EEOC claim as you would in a typical discrimination case. Instead, you can hire a private attorney and file suit as soon as you discover the violation. Chances are that if you have been denied fair compensation, other workers have as well. If so, you may be able to file a special type of FLSA class action, known as a collective action, which will help you bring the maximum pressure to bear on your employer to change its ways and to pay you all the compensation you are owed.

Please contact a top Georgia Fair Labor Standards Act attorney from Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP immediately if you have any questions regarding your pay.