SEATTLE — More than a dozen workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport filed lawsuits on Wednesday over the $15 minimum wage they say they have not been paid.
Their Seattle lawyers estimate the employees are owed as much as $20,000 each in back pay since the higher wage went into effect more than two years ago.
Airport employers fought the wage in court, saying the facility was run by the Port of Seattle and is a federal port that is not subject to local laws. The courts have disagreed.
Attorney Duncan Turner says these employees work a variety of jobs at the airport from baggage handlers to the people who clean the planes and refuel them.
Turner says some have been offered settlements that represent a fraction of the back pay they are owed.
