Southwest fighting over donations made to fired employee
Following the wrongful termination of a unionized employee in Dallas, Southwest Airlines is under fire for attempting to avoid giving full backpay by claiming that the money earned by the former employee via a GoFundMe donation page should be subtracted from the amount Southwest must pay. In February of 2016, Ken Hackett was fired after a supervisor reported hearing Hackett, then a shop steward for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, allegedly persuading coworkers not to take overtime hours. At the time, Southwest and the mechanics’ union were in heated battle over a perceived boycott of overtime, leading to Hackett’s dismissal. After an arbitrator was brought into the mix, she ruled in favor of Hackett, deciding that his termination was illegal and ordering backpay on Southwest’s behalf. A spokesperson for Southwest has recently claimed that the company will no longer be pursuing Hackett’s GoFundMe page as a component of his backpay.
See "Southwest fighting over donations made to fired employee", David Koenig, The Washington Post, February 6, 2018