By Judith Kohler
Copyright denverpost
Southwest Airlines and a union representing flight attendants have reached an agreement that allows the airline employees to use their sick leave as approved under Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplace Act.
The agreement ends a dispute with the Dallas-based airline over the state policy. Southwest, the second-largest carrier at Denver International Airport, sued in 2022, saying it qualified for a statutory exemption because of its collective bargaining agreement with its employees.
The union then sued Southwest Airlines and state officials after the state dramatically reduced a fine against the airline for violations of the state law and agreed not to investigate further complaints by the union.
The Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represents flight attendants, said Thursday that the agreement with Southwest will allow employees to use their sick leave in a wide range of situations, including personal or family illness, impacts of domestic abuse and public health emergencies without being penalized.
The agreement will be incorporated into the Denver-based flight attendants’ agreement, Suzanne Gentry Flodin ,a spokeswoman for the union, said in an email Friday. The union withdrew its lawsuit against the state.
Southwest Airlines declined to comment on the agreement.
“Being able to utilize sick time the way any other worker in Colorado is able to for times when a child or elderly parent is sick means the world to our family,” Xander Ricker, a Denver-based flight attendant whose wife is also a flight attendant, said in a statement.
This agreement doesn’t create additional paid time off but ensures that up to 48 hours of sick time per year are legally shielded from disciplinary policy, according to the union. State investigators said in 2022 that Southwest violated Colorado law in numerous ways, including by refusing to provide COVID-related leave for employees who tested positive for the virus.
The sick-leave law, which took effect in 2021, also covers weather-related evacuations or care needs, and workplace or school closures for employees or a child in their care.
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