City Tells Airline to Pay $400,000 in Back Wages

City officials have placed Southwest Airlines on notice that it needs to pay nearly $400,000 in back wages to its security personnel at Los Angeles International Airport.

City officials say they believe Southwest is required to pay its workers a “living wage” of about $8.76 an hour from the date of its Sept. 1 lease renewal--although the City Council has yet to sign off on the deal.

Southwest argues that because the City Council has yet to approve the new lease, the airline cannot be forced to pay the back wages to the security workers.

“We signed our lease back in August, but we still don’t have a signed contract” from the city, said Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin. She added that Southwest will begin paying the living wage as soon as the council approves the contract. It is set to take up the matter next week.

City officials, however, argue that the new lease has been in place, even without council approval.

Councilwomen Jackie Goldberg and Ruth Galanter, who heard the matter Tuesday at a joint meeting of the commerce and personnel panels, asked the city attorney to seek legal action to force Southwest to pay about 150 workers about $2,600 each.