Government Affairs

 
 
 
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES FLIGHT ATTENDANT FMLA BILL

Legislation Clarifies FMLA Language for Flight Crews
 
Washington, DC – February 9, 2009.
 
 The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Airline Flight Crew Family and Medical Leave Act by a unanimous voice vote today. Congressmen Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Thad McCotter (R-MI) sponsored the legislation that will clarify the intent of the original Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and finally provide all flight attendants equal coverage under this statute.
“AFA-CWA has worked hard to ensure that no flight attendant is left behind when it comes to FMLA coverage,” said AFA-CWA International President Patricia Friend. “We are extremely pleased that Representatives Bishop and McCotter’s bill was a bi-partisan and unanimous effort to correct and clarify current FMLA language that has repeatedly denied many flight attendants from qualifying for coverage for years,” said Friend.

Currently, flight attendants face many hurdles in order to qualify for FMLA benefits. These hurdles are particular to airline employees since current FMLA language has been narrowly interpreted and has failed to take into account “the unique way in which the airline industry counts its workers hours.” Congressmen Bishop and McCotter’s bill will clarify the original 1993 FMLA law and ensure that flight crews are treated fairly and qualify for benefits. A similar bill was introduced and passed by the House last year on an overwhelming vote of 402-9. The Senate did not vote on the measure before the end of the Congressional calendar.
“No one can question the benefits FMLA has provided for working women and men by being able to take time off from work to care for themselves or family members,” said Friend. “This bill will clarify the intent of the law in order to provide a fair and well-deserved benefit to the hard-working airline crewmembers. I urge the U.S. Senate to pass this important legislation.”

The FMLA requires most employers to provide job-protected unpaid leave to employees who have worked 60 percent of a full-time schedule over the course of a year. However, the courts and federal agencies disregarded that original intent and narrowly defined the “full time schedule” as that of a traditional 40 hour work week, thereby excluding flight attendant’s since their schedule does not fall with the traditional 9-5 work day. The Airline Flight Crew FMLA will correct this misinterpretation of the original legislation

Call your Senators at their district offices and/or their Washington DC offices as follows:

Senator Debbie Stabenow:

Washington Office 202 224-4822
District Office - DTW 313 961-4330
LAN 517 203-1760
TVC 231 929-1031
FNT 810 720-4172
GRR 616 975-0052

Senator Carl Levin:

Washington Office 202 224-6221
District Office - DTW 313 226-6020
MBS 989 754-2494
LAN 517 377-1508
GRR 616 456-2531
TVC 231 947-9569

Nothing works better than calls from constituents. Please call the Washington office and the local office closest to your city. For all other states, go to www.senate.gov to find your senate contact information. Please use the sample script attached to the bottom of this hotline as your guideline
Background: Adobe PDFFMLA Must Be Clarified to Cover Full Time Flight Attendants

 

 
 
We Did It! - HR2744 Passes the House

On Tuesday, May 20 the House of Representatives passed the Airline Crew (FMLA) Technical Corrections Act (HR2744). The final count was 402 to 9, an impressive and substantial majority. The successful passage of this bill is due to the grass roots effort by all of us that sent in letters and called our elected officials asking them to support this very important legislation. We would like to especially express our gratitude to Shane Larson, AFA-CWA Director of Government Affairs for his guidance as well as the other Government Affairs activists at our airline and from the other 21 AFA-CWA represented carriers that worked tirelessly to make this happen. A special thank you to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) one of the original cosponsors of the bill that helped us gain other GOP cosponsors. We now must focus on the companion bill in the Senate (S2059). We currently have 37 cosponsors and would like to continue the bi-partisan trend that we currently enjoy in the Senate bill. The hurdle that we face now is educating the Senate on the uniqueness of our schedules, just like we did in the House. For example, the Bush Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) does not consider our reserve flight attendants full time employees saying that their on-call periods should not be credited toward the hours needed to qualify for FMLA. Clearly they do not understand - We will make them understand. If you have not already done so please call your Senators and let them know how important this law is to all crewmembers.
 
Once the Senate bill passes, both bills will be combined and sent to the President for his signature. This new law will not only benefit AFA-CWA flight attendants, but all flight attendants and pilots in the U.S. Crewmembers will finally be able to meet the defined minimum number of hours for FMLA coverage, (60 percent of a full-time schedule) based on their airline's monthly flying requirements. No longer will crewmembers need to negotiate for fair FMLA benefits. We are very proud of this fact once again proving that your Union can be effective in taking issues off the negotiations table through successful legislation.

Albert and Diana