Flight attendant mom ran out of sick time: WA Supreme Court decision could bring more limits on employee leave

A new decision by the Washington State Supreme Court in Alaska Airlines v. Dep't of Labor & Industry could affect flexibility for employees seeking to use various types of paid leave to care for family members.

“I would say that it creates a kind of a road map,” said Liz Ford, an assistant law professor at Seattle University. “If an employer was inclined to want to limit its employees’ access to leave to care for their kids, then this decision gives them a way to do that.”

In 2011, a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines sought to use vacation time to care for a sick child (she was out of sick time), but she faced discipline because her union contract required her to schedule vacation time far in advance.

The resulting lawsuit pitted the airline against the Washington Family Care Act, which allows employees to use any earned time off to care for family members.

The court ruled 5 to 4 in favor of Alaska Airlines, saying the collective bargaining agreement took precedence over the state law.

“Here the supreme court acknowledges that the statute says that, but then says, an employer can limit your access to those kinds of leave through the collective bargaining agreement,” Ford told KUOW.

Ford said this decision could lead to more restrictions from employers.

She doesn’t think most employers want to create barriers around family care, but she noted that tensions around scheduling and employee flexibility are especially acute in the airline industry.