Member Article

Servisair accused of underpaying U.S. airport workers

A lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. against Runcorn-headquartered firm, Servisair, who are reportedly in the midst of merger talks with luggage handling service, Swissport.

Servisair, who are yet to comment, are an international baggage handler, with approximately 15,000 employees across the world.

More than 170 staff in the U.S. have initially filed against the company, with claims that they were denied overtime pay.

Employees at New York’s LaGuardia and JFK airports, Miami International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport all alleged Servisair docked pay from lunches that were never taken, while an unfair timekeeping system was introduced.

The plaintiffs in the case said the timekeeping system automatically reduced the amount of time they were working each day.

JaffeGlenn Law Group, which specialises in overtime wage payment cases, filed the case against the Cheshire-based company in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York, saying Servisair engaged in “systematic practice of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act” in the U.S.

Under the Act, JaffeGlenn said employees are entitled to overtime pay once they have worked more than 40 hours in one week.

Andrew Glenn, who is a partner at the Miami-based law firm, said: “Servisair willingly refuses to pay its employees when they work more than 40 hours a week and keeps inventing new ways to rob them of the time they worked.

“The same workers who sweat each day to insure the flying public has a safe, clean, pleasurable experience are having their hard-earned wages stolen by their employer.”

Servisair allegedly stands accused of denying workers of tens of millions of dollars over the past three years.

Mr Glenn said this was achieved by deducting half an hour each day from worker cards for lunches that were supposedly never taken, and using timekeeping software that automatically rounds up start times, and rounds down finish times.

JaffeGlenn said Servisair airport workers have been “shortchanged” by an average of 5 hours overtime every week.

Mr Glenn added: “Servisair and its parent company, Paris-based Derichebourg, have made millions of dollars in profit each year at the expense of the workers who have made the company successful.

“This is corporate greed at its very worst, and we intend to aggressively fight on behalf of the workers to recover the money owed to them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .