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| Courtesy of Ron Niebrugge |
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the State of Alaska, alleging the Alaska Marine Highway System violates federal leave laws.
A civil suit filed in U.S. District Court last week alleges the ferry system miscalculates time off mandated by the Family and Medical Leave Act for rotational employees, those who work for one or more weeks straight, then take the same amount of time off.
The act requires large employers to provide three months of unpaid leave when a child is born, fostered or adopted. The leave also covers care for a seriously ill family member or the sick employee.
The federal complaint says the ferry system counts such time off as part of the 12 weeks leave required by federal law, and suggests that’s illegal. The State of Alaska argues the federal government is way off base.
Alaska Department of Law Cori Mills: “The State’s interpretation is that the twelve weeks applies to all employees the same. It doesn’t matter if you have a flexible schedule, whether you were one week on, one week off, everything accrues the same. Your benefits, your health insurance, and the Family and Leave Act applies the same regardless of your work schedule.”
In the complaint, the Labor Department asks the court to order the state to follow it’s interpretation of the rules and demands that any fired employees be reinstated and compensated for lost wages and benefits. It further demands that any worker who lost pay or leave time to have it restored.
Story as aired on KSRM News:
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