Court awards $25 million in PAGA penalties against Alaska Airlines

Flight attendants for Alaska Airlines filed a lawsuit alleging the airline failed to provide itemized wage statements in accordance with California law. The trial court found Alaska liable for over $25 million in heightened penalties and $944,860 in attorneys’ fees. The airline appealed, arguing the trial court improperly awarded heightened penalties and excessive attorneys’ fees.

Facts

Alaska Airlines is headquartered in the state of Washington. In November 2018, it employed 1,181 California-based flight attendants. From August 2016 through March 2019, 22% of its California-based flight attendants didn’t reside in California. Flight attendants are currently compensated through a method called trips for pay (TFP), which is defined under the collective bargaining agreement as the “unit of pay based on point-to-point mileage outlined in Section 21.E [TFP calculation].”

Julie Gunther is a flight attendant for Alaska who is based in and lives in San Diego. In September 2017, she sent a letter to the airline and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) notifying them of her intent to pursue civil penalties under the state’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) for alleged Labor Code violations. Then, Gunther filed a representative action as an individual and on behalf of all California-based Alaska flight attendants employed from October 2016 to the present.