Airlines have a sick leave compliance headache.
Three recent lawsuits argue that local sick leave laws violate federal rules governing air travel because they could affect flight routes. So the airline industry is pushing for worker exemptions from state and local paid sick leave mandates.
A ruling in favor of the airlines in any of the lawsuits could mean flight crew or ground crew workers across the country lose access to sick leave benefits. If state and city laws were to prevail, airlines would face a complex patchwork of compliance for employees nearly always in transit.
Flight crews present the ...