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Support FMLA Protections For
Flight Attendants
It is time
to make your voice heard on Capitol Hill. Your AFA-CWA
Government Affairs Committee has been working diligently
to pass legislation for FMLA that covers Flight
Attendants. We currently have 47 co-sponsors in Congress
but we need every Flight Attendant’s help in getting
your Congress Person to co-sponsor.
Below and
attached to this email you will find a letter you can
send to your Congress Members in the House of
Representatives. If you are not sure of your House of
Representatives information, you can look it up with
your zip code at http://www.unionvoice.org/flightattendant/leg-lookup/search.tcl
. You can mail it to the following address or you can
drop it in the AFA lock box at your base (if you do not
have your Congress Person’s name, add a note including
your address in the lock box):
Association of Flight Atendants-CWA
501 Third
Street NW
Washington, DC
20001
For more
information on this campaign, go to
http://www.afaeagle.org/gac.htm
or contact a Government Affairs Committee Member.
Remember, our power is in our collective voices!
Letter to your House of Representatives (copy below):
Dear
Representative,
As a
constituent, a flight attendant and member of the
Association of Flight Attendants – CWA, I am writing to
strongly urge you to cosponsor HR 2744. This is
bipartisan legislation introduced by Representative Tim
Bishop that would clarify the intent of the original
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in regards to hours
of qualification for flight attendants and pilots. This
legislation will finally correct years of unfairness in
qualifying for FMLA coverage and I urge you to show
support for the nation’s flight attendants and pilots by
cosponsoring this legislation.
The intent
of the original law was to provide for 12 weeks of
unpaid leave if an employee has worked 60% of a full
time schedule over the past year. Based on the typical
40 hour, 9 – 5 work week, this 60% comes to 1,248 hours,
which was rounded up to 1,250 hours. In order to qualify
for FMLA coverage, an employee has to have logged 1,250
hours over 12 months to be eligible.
While
1,250 hours adequately reflects 60% of a full time
schedule for the vast majority of employees in this
country, that equation does not work for flight
attendants and pilots. Flight attendants and pilots
work under the Railway Labor Act rather than the Fair
Labor Standards Act which covers most 9-5 workers. Time
between flights, whether during the day or on
overnights/layovers, is based on company scheduling
requirements and needs but does not count towards
crewmember time at work. Flight attendants and pilots
can spend up to 4 – 5 days a week away from home and
family due to the nature of their job, however all those
hours will not count towards qualification.
Also, many
airline crewmembers are on “reserve” status, which means
that they have to stand-by to be called for duty if
others fail to show for an assigned flight. They must
be prepared to report for duty at any time. The company
recognizes that they are “on duty” and guarantees a set
number of hours for which they will be paid each month,
whether the reserve actually flies and works an
operating trip or not. However, for FMLA
qualifications, only their actual time working flights
counts towards their FMLA qualification, making it much
harder for them to reach the 1,250 hour threshold.
HR 2744
clarifies the original intent of FMLA by stating that if
a flight attendant has worked or been paid for 60% of a
full time schedule, they then will qualify for FMLA
coverage. This legislation simply clarifies the intent
of the law to the uniqueness of the airline industry.
Something that Congress intended from the beginning.
I urge you
to stand for fairness in the application of the law by
supporting and cosponsoring HR 2744!
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Print
First & Last
Name
Address
________________________________
__________________________________
Signature
City and State
____________ - _______
Zip Code
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