PHOENIX — A Maricopa County judge will decide whether Southwest Airlines has to pay more than $2.3 million in labor fines after state regulators say the company retaliated against workers who used their earned sick time.
The penalties continue to grow by about $3,000 each day.
ABC15 was the first to report on this dispute, which began three years ago. Airline mechanics in Arizona complained they were being punished for calling in sick. The workers say Southwest put disciplinary warnings in their personnel files for taking their earned sick time.
“Aircraft mechanics who make our planes airworthy should not be forced to go to work when they are sick, especially when they have a surplus in their earned sick leave bank,” said Lee Seham, an attorney representing some of the workers.
Seham said Arizona passed its sick time law for good reason.
“Arizona adopted this law because we don't want sick people coming to work to spread contagion, to harm their health even more,” he said.
The workers say they’re still dealing with the consequences of using their sick time.
"They're living under a shadow for having used sick leave that they earned," Seham said.
The Industrial Commission of Arizona’s Labor Department investigated and sided with the employees. The department maintains Southwest Airlines is subject to the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, a ballot initiative passed by voters in 2016. The law requires employers to provide paid sick leave and makes it illegal to retaliate against them for using that accrued leave.
Southwest was issued fines totaling $2.3 million in August. The airline then appealed the decision to Maricopa County Superior Court, calling the fines unconstitutional.
The lawsuit now includes 27 airline mechanics from various cities, including Phoenix, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, Sun City, Gilbert and Queen Creek.
Southwest argues that no one was fired or lost wages. In a statement, the company warns the case could set a dangerous precedent that might force them to reduce their generous leave policy. Seham says this case reaches far beyond Arizona.
“It's precedent setting not just for hundreds of thousands of Arizona employees, but we've been contacted by public prosecutors from other states, including California that have similar laws,” he said.
The Maricopa judge hasn’t set a timeline for a decision.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X.
