BODY:
May 8--US Airways skycaps at Sacramento International Airport are part of a class-action
lawsuit that alleges the airline, based in Tempe, Ariz., and its contractor have violated
federal minimum wage law.
The suit, filed April 11 in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, claims US Airway's year-old $2 curbside luggage check-in fee drastically cut into skycaps' tips, leaving some earning less than $3 per hour. The skycaps are employees of the airline's contractor, Prime Flight Aviation Services Inc., which should have boosted the skycaps' base pay but didn't, the suit alleges.
Skycaps are losing up to $80 per day in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other airports around the country where US Airways charges the fee, according lawyers representing the workers. They are seeking reimbursement of all the money they weren't paid as a result of the fee.
American Airlines last month lost a similar lawsuit after a jury found in favor of nine skycaps at Boston's Logan International Airport who also claimed they lost income because of a curbside charge. They were awarded $325,000.
US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant declined to comment on the lawsuit "other than to mention that the Skycaps in the lawsuit aren't employed by US Airways."
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