Allegiant accused of skimping on health benefits

Allegiant Air’s flight attendants say the company is trying to avoid paying health insurance to workers at a new Hawaii base even though the airline offers those benefits to flight attendants at its nine mainland bases.

The low-cost carrier, which entered the Hawaii market in June, plans to set up a base for employees in Hono­lulu in November as it continues to expand service to the islands.

Allegiant, which has posted 38 consecutive profitable quarters, told the union representing its flight attendants it wants to make Hawaii-based flight attendants part time primarily so it can avoid paying health insurance.

"When they announced they were going to make Hawaii a part-time base, I asked them if it was so they could avoid paying health insurance. They responded that there were several reasons but that was the primary reason," said Debra Petersen-Barber, an Allegiant flight attendant and lead negotiator for the Transport Workers Union Local 577.

Allegiant said it could not comment on the situation. "Our legal team is still reviewing our response, so unfortunately we cannot supply comment at this time," Allegiant spokes­woman Jessica Wheeler said Friday in an email.

Health insurance is important to flight attendants since they are the most at risk of getting sick of any airline employees, Petersen-Barber said.

"The (Boeing) 757 holds 223 passengers," she said. "If we take them one direction and then come back, that is about 450 passengers we’re exposed to every day. So we have a high rate of exposure to germs and flu viruses and anything they bring on the plane because we work in a closed environment."

Hawaii-based Allegiant pilots will be full time and get health insurance because the company doesn’t have a part-time program for pilots, Petersen-Barber added. Nearly all of Allegiant’s 550 mainland-based flight attendants work full time and get health benefits.

"I’d feel outraged if I were with Allegiant, especially if people in Hawaii wouldn’t be covered by any type of medical service but they’ll cover people on the mainland," said Sharon Soper, a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant and president of the master executive council for the Hawaiian unit of the Association of Flight Attendants — Communication Workers of America. "Is that how they want to treat the people in Hawaii? They won’t be covered by any type of medical insurance, but they’ll cover the people on the mainland."

Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants get health insurance if they work as little as 35 hours a month, Soper said.

Hawaii’s Prepaid Health Care Act requires employers to provide health insurance to any employee who works at least 20 hours per week for four consecutive weeks. To avoid the high cost of health insurance, some companies prefer to use part-time workers.

Allegiant could avoid paying health insurance to Hawaii-based flight attendants by scheduling them for less than 20 hours per week if they agree to be made part time through a collective bargaining agreement.

How to count flight attendant hours could become a key issue.

Allegiant requires full-time flight attendants to be available to work at least 75 hours a month, said Petersen-Barber, the Allegiant union representative. If flight attendants work the minimum 75 hours, they actually could spend more than 100 hours on the job because there are many duty hours for which they are not compensated, Petersen-Barber said.

Allegiant flight attendants are only paid from the time the plane leaves the gate to the time it rolls to a stop at the end of the flight. Yet the flight attendants are required to be at the airport an hour before departure, spend about one hour and 15 minutes preparing the plane for its turnaround flight, and spend another 15 minutes onboard after the plane lands, Petersen-Barber said. Flight attendants also are not compensated for weather or mechanical delays that could last hours, she said.

By counting only 75 hours per month, Allegiant could say flight attendants work 18.75 hours a week and fall below the Hawaii minimum of 20 hours a week.

"Essentially, someone working 75 hours in Hono­lulu would be working the same amount of hours I would be working in Las Vegas — only I would get health insurance and they would not," Petersen-Barber said. "It sets a precedent for other airlines to do that same thing if it turns out to be a successful way to avoid paying health insurance."

Petersen-Barber said there are 37 trainees finishing up Allegiant’s flight attendants school in Las Vegas for the Hono­lulu base. She said mainland-based Allegiant flight attendants were dissuaded from transferring to Hawaii because of the concern over losing health care and seniority. Flight attendants who are part time for a year or longer who want to return to full time are placed at the bottom of the seniority list.

Allegiant’s flight attendants voted in December 2010 to be represented by the TWU, and the two sides are negotiating a contract.

Health insurance is one of four key issues that has stalled negotiations with the company and prompted the TWU to seek mediation with the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that oversees labor relations in the airline industry.

Other key issues are getting compensated for the extended-duty hours, cost-of-living increases and union security.

Thom McDaniel, a 20-year flight attendant with Southwest Airlines and international vice president for TWU, said the union is concerned that Allegiant is taking the law that Hawaii designed to guarantee people have health insurance and using it against them.

"And they’re doing it in a way that’s not genuine because of all the hours the flight attendants work that would not be tied to the 20 hours a week," he said.

Allegiant, which connects secondary cities to leisure destinations, has been in the Hawaii market since June 29 when it began three-days-a-week service from Las Vegas, followed two days later with its first flight from Fresno, Calif.

The airline’s schedule kicks into full gear in November when it begins offering two flights a week from Bellingham, Wash., to both Hono­lulu and Maui; a second weekly flight to Hono­lulu from Fresno, Calif.; and weekly flights to Hono­lulu from Eugene, Ore., and the California cities of Monterey, Santa Maria and Stockton.

In February, Allegiant starts once-a-week service from Boise, Idaho, and Spokane, Wash., and three-times-a-week service from Phoenix.

Overall, Allegiant flies 182 routes to 79 cities in 40 states through the U.S. It has 1,750 full-time equivalent employees.

Petersen-Barber said Hawaii has put a lot of money and resources into making sure its residents have health insurance.

"We want to make sure that people living in Hawaii aren’t having their insurance taken away because of a situation where it’s falling into a crack," she said.