Date: 2008-05-19
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. today. the House has an opportunity to restore Congress intent to allow flight attendants. pilots. and reserve flight crew members to take unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 without fear of losing their jobs. Passage of H.R. 2744. the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act. will ensure job protection for these workers when they need to time off to recover from an illness or care for newborn children or sick family members. While millions of American workers are guaranteed up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave. narrow Department of Labor regulations have rendered more than 200.000 flight crew personnel unable to take advantage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The problem is that flight crew workers are not paid or scheduled for work in the same manner as industries that are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Currently. the minimum threshold to qualify under the Family and Medical Leave Act is based on working at least 60 percent of a normal 40hour work weekor 1.250 hours annually. However. most fulltime flight attendants and pilots work schedules are calculated based on their "inflight" timegenerally only those hours spent while the plane is moving. They are not paid for the time spent between flights or during layovers. This means that an average flight attendant spends approximately 13 hours onduty for every 5 hours of actual flight time. But only those 5 hours are counted towards their FMLA eligibility. Work schedules for fulltime flight attendants. pilots. or reserve personnel make it almost impossible to meet the minimum 1.250 threshold because of their unpaid time doing preflight and postflight work activities. The problem is that flight crew workers are not paid or scheduled for work in the same manner as industries that are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Currently. the minimum threshold to qualify under the Family and Medical Leave Act is based on working at least 60 percent of a normal 40hour work weekor 1.250 hours annually. However. most fulltime flight attendants and pilots work schedules are calculated based on their "inflight" time--generally only those hours spentwhile the plane is moving. They are not paid for the time spent between flights or during layovers. This means that an average flight attendant spends approximately 13 hours onduty for every 5 hours of actual flight time. But only those five hours are counted towards their FMLA eligibility. Work schedules for fulltime flight attendants. pilots. or reserve personnel make it almost impossible to meet the minimum 1.250 threshold because of their unpaid time doing preflight and postflight work activities. H4098 CO On average.. a flight attendant is scheduled for 960 inflight hours each year. and according to FAA regulations. pilots are prohibited from flying more than 1.000 hours a year. The legislative history is clear that airline attendants and pilots were meant to be covered when Congress enacted the original legislation in 1993. The Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act clarifies that flight attendants and pilots are entitled the benefits afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act. The legislation provides that airline attendants. pilots and reserve personnel meet the hours of service requirement in the Family and Medical Leave Act if they work or are paid 60 percent of the airlines monthly work schedule and if they work or are paid for at least 504 hours. . This number represents about 60 percent of the monthly work schedule of a typical airline. Hard working flight attendants and pilots should be able to take needed family and medical leave. and they deservethe protection of the law in securing their jobs when they return from tending to their personal ahd family medical needs. I would like to thank Congressman TIMOTHY BISHOP for introducing this important piece of legislation. I also thank the ranking member of the Education and Labor Committee. Mr. MCKEON. for working with us to help craft a true bipartisan bill.