deltawatch
Veteran
CWA members this is a very important issue. It’s a full-time issue as well as part-time. Not only are current part-timers affected but it creates an incentive for the company to turn as many full-time lines into part-time split lines as they can. They can cover a 7-8 hour period with a part-time split and not have to offer FLMA, or pay healthcare for your dependents.
Part-timers are effectively denied FMLA...
By Tina Perry, CWA Local 13301 President
The US Airways delegates to the recent CWA Legislative Conference engaged in three days of intensive lobbying visits to Senators and Members of Congress to articulate a range of concerns on behalf of our passenger service members. One issue we were particularly concerned about is FMLA rules for part-timers.
We at US Airways, along with other workers in the airline industry, are still greatly affected by the events resulting from the terrorist acts of September 11th 2001, not only at our jobs, but our lives at home as well.
Many of our full-time jobs were eliminated, leaving us no choice but to try to continue to run our households on the salary and benefits of a part-time job. Money is a very important issue, but not the issue we need to discuss in this particular instance. The issue is that now we no longer have the ability to qualify for the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Most of our part-time shifts are five (5) hours per day, which means that we would have to work fifty (50) full weeks per year in order to meet the current 1250 hour qualifier of the FMLA.
US Airways does require a minimum of 10 vacation days be taken per year, leaving no additional time to be taken as vacation, sick time, jury duty, etc. Every single day would have to be worked in order to obtain the hours required in order to qualify for FMLA. Even if we qualify, any days that are used for FMLA make it even tougher to qualify the following year.
As an important part of the post September 11th workforce, part-time workers should be afforded the benefits of the FMLA, and we believe that the qualifications for FMLA should reflect a standard obtainable by a part-time schedule.
We suggested to the Senators and Members of Congress that, for the part-time workforce, the eligibility requirements be lowered to the equivalent of seven (7) months work, as it is for full time workers. This would enable many of us to balance the needs of our home life with today’s work environment. We intend to continue to press this issue and hope to see legislative action on it soon.
Part-timers are effectively denied FMLA...
By Tina Perry, CWA Local 13301 President
The US Airways delegates to the recent CWA Legislative Conference engaged in three days of intensive lobbying visits to Senators and Members of Congress to articulate a range of concerns on behalf of our passenger service members. One issue we were particularly concerned about is FMLA rules for part-timers.
We at US Airways, along with other workers in the airline industry, are still greatly affected by the events resulting from the terrorist acts of September 11th 2001, not only at our jobs, but our lives at home as well.
Many of our full-time jobs were eliminated, leaving us no choice but to try to continue to run our households on the salary and benefits of a part-time job. Money is a very important issue, but not the issue we need to discuss in this particular instance. The issue is that now we no longer have the ability to qualify for the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Most of our part-time shifts are five (5) hours per day, which means that we would have to work fifty (50) full weeks per year in order to meet the current 1250 hour qualifier of the FMLA.
US Airways does require a minimum of 10 vacation days be taken per year, leaving no additional time to be taken as vacation, sick time, jury duty, etc. Every single day would have to be worked in order to obtain the hours required in order to qualify for FMLA. Even if we qualify, any days that are used for FMLA make it even tougher to qualify the following year.
As an important part of the post September 11th workforce, part-time workers should be afforded the benefits of the FMLA, and we believe that the qualifications for FMLA should reflect a standard obtainable by a part-time schedule.
We suggested to the Senators and Members of Congress that, for the part-time workforce, the eligibility requirements be lowered to the equivalent of seven (7) months work, as it is for full time workers. This would enable many of us to balance the needs of our home life with today’s work environment. We intend to continue to press this issue and hope to see legislative action on it soon.