A Delta Air Lines Sky Club worker at LAX is seeking class action status for a lawsuit arguing employees should be paid for time spent going through TSA. They’re suing Compass Group USA, the food service company for the lounge, and also Delta as ‘joint employer’.
LAX Sky Club
The legal theory is that this pre-clock-in time is “hours worked” under California wage orders (time under the employer’s control). California’s Supreme Court held that employer-required exit searches on the employer’s premises can be compensable “hours worked.” (Frlekin v. Apple). The argument is that employees had to go through mandatory security to access their work site, so that waiting time is controlled by the employer and must be paid.
However, California’s Supreme Court explained that the level of employer control (not merely “this is required”) drives the analysis of whether employer-mandated security gate procedures can be compensable (Huerta v. CSI Electrical Contractors).
California compensability turns on employer control, not just necessity. Security screening is compensable when:
- it is required by the employer
- administered at the employer’s direction
- and the employer controls the manner, timing, or conditions of the screening.
LAX Sky Club
TSA screening is none of those things. The concession operator doesn’t manage the checkpoint, control wait times, staffing, or what an individual goes through during screening. They lack the ability to waive or modify screening. So I don’t think this is going anywhere.
There’s also an argment about lack of meal and rest breaks, and I note that TSA screening times make it challenging to leave the airport during breaks, but I don’t think this has much chance either. I’d love to hear from subject matter experts who differ with me on this.
TSA security wait time pay has already been litigated in California and lost at the 9th Circuit in Cazares v. Host International over pay at an LAX lounge (Admirals Club). The case was dismissed because the employer didn’t exercise any control over the employee during screening. It’s government-mandated, not employer-mandated. And the court rejected the theory that the employer must enable leaving the entire secured airport area. The relevant “premises” they have to be able to leave is the lounge itself. (To be sure, that case is not binding on a California Superior Court.)
Delta Planes At LAX
For this to go anywhere the claim has to be stronger than TSA exists. If the employer required employees to arrive at a specific time before the start of their shift, because of security, that would be a different matter.
Suing Delta here as ‘joint employer’ also seems thin. Delta sets lounge standards. But they aren’t directing day to day work or supervising individual employees. They benefit from the work inside the lounge, but their control is of the contract company (Compass) and not at the employee level. Suing Delta alongside Compass makes strategic sense as a deep pocket, but Delta isn’t setting schedules or approving time cards, they’re setting quality standards.
California employment law is.. unique… but it doesn’t support this class action, I don’t think. That said, one of the last things I’ve ever wanted in professional life is to be a California employer. I’ve had to fill out insurance applications at work that ask as a standalone question, “do you have any employees based in California?” They ask this for a reason.
LAX Sky Club
I lived in California as a teenager and my family was in the car business there. A mechanic in their repair shop once cheated on his wife. She confronted him when she learned he’d gotten an STD. So he went full on Shaggy Defense claiming to have gotten it at work – from a spider bite while fixing a car.
That is not.. how STDs work. They’re called sexually transmitted for a reason. That did not matter. Since he was fully committed to the workplace injury story with his wife, he had to lean in and apply for for workers comp. He got it.
Hilarious. Kalifornia people never cease to amaze me. Then again Minnesota giving them a run for their money.
@Coffee Please – how DARE people advocate for better working conditions and compensation. The nerve of some people. Why do you hate the working class so much?
The lawsuit is designed for the lawyers. The case will settle with members of the class action getting 2 cents (I once got a check for 2 cents in a class action) and the lawyers getting a generous amount for their fees.
It’s like suing for payment of time sitting in traffic while driving to work…. The TSA wait is essentially sitting in traffic. Some people choose different jobs because of the amount of “traffic”! If this person arrived early (probably very) there would be less “traffic”…..
@Parker
Funny watching you libs getting your panties in a wad. Don’t hate the working class at all. I was one of them. I laugh at the idea that eventually people (probably Kalifornia) will want to start getting paid when they wake up in the morning.
California. The People’s Republic. Wait until all the high earners are fed up and leave for Texas or any other no or low tax state. Then, when the remaining Californians have to shoulder an increasing portion of the tax burden, they’ll learn the meaning of “nothing in life is free.”
Can’t leave the airport during breaks?? Boo hoo, not feasible to leave an airport to run errands. As a staff nurse I didn’t get to leave the hospital and often didn’t get breaks or lunch.
Should they get paid waiting for and riding the employee airport bus? Should one get paid for waiting for a busy elevator at work? Of course, only in California.
Airport employees usually skip the line for TSA, scan their badge and move into the security lane so it’s no more than a 10-15 minute ordeal at most. Moreover, I’m sure they have scheduled start and stop times since they’re not salaried/exempt. That means you are expected to be on premise and ready for duty at a certain time. And that means one should build enough buffer into commute time to their job, including additional faculties like a TSA screening.
Newsom is the leftist hero. He can proudly claim that he is the first governor in The People’s Republic of California to lose a congressional seat. People and companies continue to leave. Great job Sparkle Beach Ken. Now why the heck were you in Davos. You are not a world leader. You can’t even get the fire hydrants to work in LA.
@Coffee Please, my POV on this has noting to do with how liberal I am or am not. If you pay attention on here you will see that I am critical of unions and employees when they deserve it. So, let’s not gaslight and claim my POV is politically motivated. My POV is morally motivated. And morally, people have a right to advocate for themselves and their working conditions. To say otherwise says something about you.
And, to be clear, I have not shared my opinion whether or not I think they should be paid for their time standing in security lines. That’s between them and their employer.
@Parker
You made an assumption on me so I am allowed to make one on you.
@Coffee
Yup, how dare one think that someone who uses words like Kalifornia may be motivated by politics,
I have to wake up at 8am to be at work at 10am. I should start getting paid at 8am. plus I should get paid when I drive home. my shift ends at 5 but I dont get home until 6. sometimes I take public transit and should be compensated for that. I should also be paid more because driving is dangerous same if I take the bus or subway. I should also get extra hourly rate for having to deal with customers. I will also need hazard pay for working at the airport very loud, bad traffic, strong fumes. wildfire mudslides and earthquake bonus.
An employee badge moves u to the front of the security. Maybe they should have gotten there earlier . As far as California goes, everyone is sue happy. There’s more law schools and lawyers than anywhere else. Every other bilboard on their many freeways is for a lawyer.
I know that at several Admirals Clubs like JFK, they have “crew meals” like a restaurant. I asked about it on a recent visit to JFK where I was sitting at the work stations by the window adjacent to the food prep area door. Maybe a function of whatever contract hospitality company that is… but they asked everyone to come in and give orders for sandwiches. Essentially it’s the same food as outside but someone was assembling it into a plate sizeable enough for a meal.
The co-employment with Delta is a very fuzzy area. I’ve managed at an airline where my front line were contractors/ground handlers. The co-employment line is very grey. We had an airline general manager roped into an EEOC complaint and the employee won, because the airline GM was sitting in the disciplinary meetings. I could not coach or council any employees short of stopping a safety event or stepping in to an interaction with a customer. Employees fighting in the ramp break room amongst each other? “Hey, how’s everyone doing?” then go find the ground handler’s manager and say “You have a problem to deal with.” Someone gets a lot of customer complaints that I could verify? “Hey, how you doing today?” as the GH agent walks by my office. Then I have their company’s station director into my office and say that person is off the contract effective immediately – what they do with them, not my problem, business, or concern. And no, I’m not giving a reason, but here’s some complaints I got you can look at.
I couldn’t pick who they made supervisors – as they didn’t work for me – but if they chose someone completely incompetent and who I thought had a crappy attitude, I could nit-pick the heck out of them to the GH leadership and make their life hell for making that choice.
If, say, a Delta red coat (often one of them is the “supervisor” at the Sky Club) coached the employee on being late, or suggested getting to work earlier, or sat in on them getting written up, then it’s fair game.
It was my job to pass out gift cards for atta-boys/girls and buy food on holidays – but someone coming late to work? “Everything okay?” then rip their supervisor or manager apart for the fact that I had to board a flight since the agent wasn’t there.
Ya’ll can hate on “Kalifornia” but when the United States of America is not united anymore (which will happen, it’s 100% certainty, all empires rise and fall nothing is forever), Kalifornia has the economy of Japan and Germany and the rest of you hating on them will suffer because they contribute so much more to the 49 other states than they take in …. They can build a border wall, have their own military, and be happy as a damned clam being one of the most successful countries on the entire planet.
Not debatable. It’s a fact.
So keep hating on Kalifornia.
@Mike
You can have Kalifornistahn. And if you leave one day like so many have do not bring your politics with you.
From a purely legal perspective, this case is likely going no where. Giving this class action status and then a finding on behalf of the plaintiffs would fundamentally redefine the definition of worker compensation for hourly employees. With specific legislative intent as demonstrated by code / statute or prior case law, there’s no there there. This would be judicial activism in the actual sense.
And, FWIW, if the issue is time spent at the TSA check point for airport employees, this is really a process issue to be solved. Me thinks someone’s got a cousin who convinced them they have a case.
Cool story, Gary. Classic ‘view from the (right) wing’ fodder. @Parker said it best, hating on workers (and blue states). Red meat for the bigots.
@Coffee Please
I happen to live in Boston. I’ll gladly take the Union of New England States (incl. New York) as a separate country. Not hard to build a border wall here, and we don’t even have to worry about Canada. We’ll setup tarriff-free trading with them and take back in all their tourist money too they’re not spending anywhere in the USA anymore. Have fun trading with us — we’re net contributors to the rest of the country.
Our economic output and GDP per capita will let us survie quite nicely without any federal government at all, no sweat.
Wanna keep going down this path? Hint: It don’t end well for Alabama and Mississippi and Oklahoma and a bunch of square states.
First of all, some of you really need some help. Like something to deal yo with the hate you carry for others. My goodness.
Second of all this will and SHOULD fail. My significant other is a Delta employee at another large station. You know why she leaves a little early each day, to make it through security on time. Back in my ye olde days I worked at Cingular Wireless. The union sued them because people were mad they had to get to work before the minute they clocked in and get their PC on. We should always advocate for better working conditions but getting your system up and going in the AM or getting to your desk is part of that. TSA is kinda sorta really dumb but it’s your responsibility to bake that time into your schedule. I used to hate commuting. I found a job I didn’t have to commute to anymore. Some jobs require dumb things. Either deal with said dumb things or find another place to work. That’s adulting. Yes it blows but this isn’t the hill to die on.
Just Again, some of y’all need therapy.
Does that apply for having to park at LAX since it takes so long?
I am very amused by everyone, including Gary, asserting that the tort industry in California will be denied a payday because of the law. Until we modify the legal system to make the loser pay these types of bogus lawsuits will churn through the courts to gain an out of court settlement.
Can I sue the airline for wait time in the TSA line? This is one of the reasons I left Komifornia, also because of Screwsome. Next they will sue the gas stations for waiting for filling you own gas tank and that it takes too long. This is so ridiculous. All this will do if Delta is mandated to pay is raise airline fares. California is out of control. Sue happy liberals.
There will always be trolls on both sides and the middle of politics who can’t wait to add their two cents worth of political “drama” to the conversation. I can’t see any politics in the employee’s complaint. The employee thinks that he/she should be compensated for “sitting in traffic”, whether in a TSA line or freeway bumper to bumper. This, hopefully will go nowhere in the courts. I agree with Tyrone B. If there was a “loser pays” (and the lawyer would pay first!) court system, this type of frivolous lawsuit wouldn’t take up the court’s valuable time for nonsense.
@ Win Whitmire and Tyrone B:
Be careful what you ask for. A “loser pays” system would greatly benefit plaintiffs, and as a plaintiff’s attorney, I would LOVE that! It would enable ordinary people to finally get true justice when harmed by a reckless or dishonest corporation.
I agree that THIS lawsuit is weak and almost sure to lose. (I certainly would not have taken the case.)
But you have to look at the big picture. The current “American Rule” (where each side has to pay its own attorney’s fees, regardless of who wins or who loses) tremendously benefits large corporations who can use their vast resources to crush their human opponents.
A “loser pays” system would be a huge benefit to plaintiffs who have a legitimate claim. Such a system would enable impecunious plaintiffs to hire a good lawyer and get their day in court, and would allow true justice to prevail — that is, when a person is wronged by a corporation and has to sue the company to get compensated for their loss, they would be made fully whole and not have to sacrifice part of their compensation to pay for the litigation costs required to obtain a fair result.
This is especially important in low-dollar cases, where it costs more to litigate a claim than the claim itself is worth, thus slamming shut the courthouse doors on many worthy claimants.
So yes, let’s go to a “loser pays” system — the sooner the better.
_______________
(Important note: Even under our current system, people who file truly frivolous lawsuits are required to pay for the other side’s attorney’s fees and litigation costs.)
Oh California… the state of lawsuits and protests! If California were to separate from the US, it would gradually implode, as it needs the federal government to keep funding all its nonsense. Not to mention, most large businesses are leaving the state. Beautiful state but in gradual decline.
Don’t like the wait time, get a different job.
I travel almost weekly for work…I’m salary. I often put in 12-14 hour days…from the time I leave my house until I get to the hotel. I’m answering emails all day. It’s called being an adult.
Bhn: unoriginal. People have been saying that forever, it hasn’t happened yet.
I am a California employer. I can only hope – for the rest of the anti-california commenters – hopefully someday you will need to get a visa to visit us. That means we won’t be funding YOUR crap anymore.
Steve J: do even the tiniest modicum of homework, and you will find that you have it exactly backwards on the dollar flow.
Why are some so eager to make everything about politics? OMG!!! This was not about politics, it was about someone advocating for what they thought was fare, whether popular or not. How many times have someone said ‘I wish I thought of that, darn?’ Everything is not red vs. blue or liberal vs conservative. Why can’t someone like California and be a conservative? My God, have we not learned anything about so much negativity and finger pointing??? If this case goes forward, I may be included to ask for comp time for commuting in the DC area. Oh, wait…OPM already has a policy, darn! Maybe next time.
California and it’s entitlement libs are an absolute joke,Newscum has almost completely accomplished the destruction of the state,When exodus of the businesses and wealthy , which is moving at breakneck speed,is complete, the state will be bankrupt,which they deserve.
Funny thing is airport employees (not to mention airline staff/crew) all cut to the front of the TSA line. I’ve always dreamt of the day when they all had to get in line with the rest of us passengers. You can bet the lines at TSA would disappear completely. But that’s too simple (and fair).
Spider bite causing an STD at work and getting workers comp. Only in Calif !!!! Being an employer there has its moments and stress!