WASHINGTON — The National Air Traffic Controllers Association filed a lawsuit Friday against President Donald Trump and other top federal officials, saying they are depriving controllers of their “hard-earned compensation without the requisite due process.”
Controllers across the country started seeing pay stubs Thursday showing that they are receiving no pay for their work guiding planes to airports nationwide.
The legal challenge, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks a temporary restraining order against the federal government for allegedly violating controllers’ constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment.
The air traffic controllers are also organizing a leafleting effort appealing directly to passengers at airports across the country, including in Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle and Portland, as well as at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, a union official said. The intent of the leafleting is to underscore the importance of their work and end the shutdown more quickly, the official said, not to protest.
