- May 16, 2007
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Front page story on Philly.com
US Airways investigating bag handlersBy Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer
US Airways has fired more than a dozen baggage handlers and is interviewing as many as 150 others at Philadelphia International Airport in connection with an alleged scheme to manipulate the records of the hours they worked, the airline said yesterday.
Some employees allegedly obtained the computer passwords of managers and used them to get access to the airline's computerized timekeeping system, where they altered records to make it appear they worked overtime when they had not, US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Andrea Rader said. The airline uses a timekeeping system called Workbrain.
US Airways, the airport's largest carrier, with more than 60 percent of the traffic, may seek criminal charges against some of the employees involved, Rader said.
"We're in the process of interviewing 100 to 150 people," she said. "We fired, at this point, about 15. It's primarily a case of stolen passwords."
The airline has not determined how much money it may have paid employees who did not work the hours the Workbrain system said they did, Rader said.
The Inquirer learned of the company investigation from other ramp workers, who say they were not involved but requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to reporters.
US Airways' Philadelphia ramp operations, where bags are loaded and airplanes serviced between flights, have been a trouble spot for years, characterized by poor labor-management relations and a tense atmosphere between older workers and new hires.
The airline has hired hundreds of baggage handlers in the last year to keep up with increases in passengers and a high attrition rate among ramp workers. Starting pay for the airline's baggage handlers is less than $10 an hour.
Rader said US Airways had 1,664 ramp workers in Philadelphia. It had hired more workers last spring than it thought it would need to deal with attrition.
The airline's Philadelphia managers say they believe that even if 100 or more employees are dismissed, baggage service will not be seriously affected, she said.
Rader said the alleged manipulation of the timekeeping system apparently started in May but did not raise suspicions until July, when company officials noticed large amounts of overtime being posted for certain employees.
Employees were allegedly able to override the system by intentionally locking themselves out of it, then using a manager's password that had been "hijacked," Rader said.
"That process has been fixed," Rader said. "Clearly, in this case, our system for having passwords reset wasn't followed. We don't know how that happened."
It was unclear how long US Airways has used the Workbrain system, also now known as Infor. Workbrain Corp. was recently acquired by Infor Global Solutions, of Alpharetta, Ga.
Richard S. Golaszeski, executive vice president of GRA Inc., a Jenkintown aviation-consulting firm, said time-card fraud probably occurs in many industries, but it is something that managers are trained to monitor.
The amount of overtime worked "is a number managers are evaluated on and are absolutely supposed to watch," Golaszeski said. "This raises questions about internal controls" at the airline.
US Airways had the worst record among major U.S. airlines for lost or damaged bags for the first six months of 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The airline's mishandled-bag reports averaged 9 per 1,000 passengers in the first half of the year, compared with an industry average of 7.3 per 1,000.
The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline reported a second-quarter profit of $263 million on $3.2 billion in revenue. It has been among the most profitable carriers in its industry since it came out of federal bankruptcy protection and merged with America West Airlines in September 2005.
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Contact staff writer Tom Belden at 215-854-2454 or [email protected].
US Airways investigating bag handlersBy Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer
US Airways has fired more than a dozen baggage handlers and is interviewing as many as 150 others at Philadelphia International Airport in connection with an alleged scheme to manipulate the records of the hours they worked, the airline said yesterday.
Some employees allegedly obtained the computer passwords of managers and used them to get access to the airline's computerized timekeeping system, where they altered records to make it appear they worked overtime when they had not, US Airways Group Inc. spokeswoman Andrea Rader said. The airline uses a timekeeping system called Workbrain.
US Airways, the airport's largest carrier, with more than 60 percent of the traffic, may seek criminal charges against some of the employees involved, Rader said.
"We're in the process of interviewing 100 to 150 people," she said. "We fired, at this point, about 15. It's primarily a case of stolen passwords."
The airline has not determined how much money it may have paid employees who did not work the hours the Workbrain system said they did, Rader said.
The Inquirer learned of the company investigation from other ramp workers, who say they were not involved but requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to reporters.
US Airways' Philadelphia ramp operations, where bags are loaded and airplanes serviced between flights, have been a trouble spot for years, characterized by poor labor-management relations and a tense atmosphere between older workers and new hires.
The airline has hired hundreds of baggage handlers in the last year to keep up with increases in passengers and a high attrition rate among ramp workers. Starting pay for the airline's baggage handlers is less than $10 an hour.
Rader said US Airways had 1,664 ramp workers in Philadelphia. It had hired more workers last spring than it thought it would need to deal with attrition.
The airline's Philadelphia managers say they believe that even if 100 or more employees are dismissed, baggage service will not be seriously affected, she said.
Rader said the alleged manipulation of the timekeeping system apparently started in May but did not raise suspicions until July, when company officials noticed large amounts of overtime being posted for certain employees.
Employees were allegedly able to override the system by intentionally locking themselves out of it, then using a manager's password that had been "hijacked," Rader said.
"That process has been fixed," Rader said. "Clearly, in this case, our system for having passwords reset wasn't followed. We don't know how that happened."
It was unclear how long US Airways has used the Workbrain system, also now known as Infor. Workbrain Corp. was recently acquired by Infor Global Solutions, of Alpharetta, Ga.
Richard S. Golaszeski, executive vice president of GRA Inc., a Jenkintown aviation-consulting firm, said time-card fraud probably occurs in many industries, but it is something that managers are trained to monitor.
The amount of overtime worked "is a number managers are evaluated on and are absolutely supposed to watch," Golaszeski said. "This raises questions about internal controls" at the airline.
US Airways had the worst record among major U.S. airlines for lost or damaged bags for the first six months of 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The airline's mishandled-bag reports averaged 9 per 1,000 passengers in the first half of the year, compared with an industry average of 7.3 per 1,000.
The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline reported a second-quarter profit of $263 million on $3.2 billion in revenue. It has been among the most profitable carriers in its industry since it came out of federal bankruptcy protection and merged with America West Airlines in September 2005.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Tom Belden at 215-854-2454 or [email protected].
