Republic Airways Adds $100K Fine For Pilots Who Quit Within Three Years

OK, so much for the "stick". Where is the "carrot" in this agreement? Making Captain within a year is no real incentive, One can do that pretty much at any regional carrier these days.

What the heck is this? Jail Republic Airways executives who came up with this and liquidate the company. This is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Why not pay all airline pilots a decent wage? Because that would hurt profits. I can't deal with this kind of corporate behaviour anymore. It just shows that companies left on their own have no limits.

As a proponent of free markets, I have no issue with this policy so long as it is clearly disclosed and understood by a new hire. I do not agree with trying to impose it on any that was not specifically hired under these terms. I fully support a right to work which implies a right to change jobs. However, in a free market you should have a right to give up some of your freedom voluntarily as part of a contract. It's all about transparency as to the T&Cs.

What's the problem if the terms are disclosed at hiring and the new hire freely accepts? If not, that pilot can work elsewhere. I see no problem with that so long as its transparent. That a free market.

Better carrot and stick...
Move to captain among those qualified...
1. Priority given to those that agree to 2 more years.
2. Pilot given a bonus of X and commitment of 2 more years.
3. Pilots with commitment get higher seniority than those without contract.

So could still get to captain without 2 year commitment, but lower seniority and less of a chance.

A few details I read in a longer write-up: Upgrades to Captain are obligatory at the company's discretion, so they would have a say in base. Also, 2 years as captain is a required part of the term. So, if upgrades stop while someone is an FO, they're stuck there until they can finally upgrade, then serve 2 years in the left seat.

So many carrots they could have chosen rather than this stick.

@Bruce - Just curious, but is $140k/year enough to live on nowadays in the USA? Does $90/hour even qualify as minimum wage in some states? What shameful exploitation of these poor pilots.

Interesting. I too support a free market but this seems ridiculous. Wouldn’t a solid contract stating however long a captain must stay with Republic be sufficient? They come across as extremely desperate and not the best place to work.

If republic is paying for the training then I don’t think it’s out of line , otherwise ye

Capitalism works both ways. Good luck finding pilots willing to sign up for that stupid clause.

Penalty in Republic's "Liquidated Damages, non Compete Clause" is actually 250,000! Added to this is return of all incentives (up too 100k).Crazy!

I don’t see anything wrong with this as long as the pilot can read. I mean no one is forcing anyone to sign on the dotted line. Right now there is pilot shortage so if anyone is happy to sign this contract, who am I to stop him/her.

I thought Republic would beat up that person, break his nose, and knock down his teeth then drag him out of the cockpit.

Yes, it is. $90,000 a year would be roughly equivalent to $45/hour. So, it is more than minimum wage.

I don't think these "liquidation damages" would even hold up in court.

However, the source is also quoting "Teamsters" so, I'd wait to hear from both sides before judging the airline.

As a Human Resources professional, I've been watching closely as the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) moves to limit the use of non-compete clauses in employment. It seems to me that this airline is violating that - although in a union environment many "normal" rules don't apply. While I understand the airline's position, I don't believe this is the best way to achieve their goals.

$90/hour is darn good money, even at a reduced hour schedule. If they worked a 20 hour workweek they'd gross roughly $93K. Even in expensive cities you could make do on that. It's laughable to compare that to minimum wage (at a 40 hour week, $18 minimum wage (varies depending on location) grosses roughly $37K).

Republic isn't in a great position as it's not an owned subsidiary of a mainline carrier. That means seniority doesn't accrue when flying for them. Yet, they still need pilots if they'd like to continue operations. This is bad energy on all sides and only makes the deal harder to sell to potential pilots by their recruitment department. Added to this: Other regionals are offering a sign on bonus to compensate for the outlandish cost of flight school, yet Republic is not. This deal only appeals to pilots who place a priority on their base also being their hometown.

It's not like a court could order a pilot to keep working for Republic, if that's what you're suggesting. All the airline would be entitled to is monetary damages in the event of the pilot's breach of contract. A proper liquidated damages clause (I offer no opinion on this one, particularly in the absence of pertinent details), would serve the purpose of establishing the amount of real damages that might otherwise be hard to quantify/prove.

Involuntary servitude used to be illegal. Management can stay a few months and get golden parachutes. Workers get screwed.

This is not capitalism, rather tyranny of the elitist.

As described in this article, it certainly seems unlikely that would be enforceable. However, media summaries (even when they have actual contracts and not just tips) tend to miss key details of things like this. A good lawyer could come up with a pretty stiff liquidated damages provision that would have a good chance of holding up. On the flip side, perhaps they don't need a good lawyer if their main goal is to scare pilots who can't afford to take any chance that the provision would be enforced.

@Tim Dunn
Does this affect Delta connection flights?

It is tied to an upgrade bonus of 60k plus costs incurred for training. Ie simulator time.

So, are you saying all Regional pilots are under-experienced? If they are being "trained," it seems as if they are flying planes without much experience. Also, if the TRAINERS are being forced to stay 3 years, they're barely experienced, too! So should we even want to fly on planes that have newbie pilots? And, are people that HAVE to fly connecting flights on Republic (because their smaller airports use Republic to get to larger airports) putting their lives at risk?

It’s called a “training contract”, most regionals had them up until recently, this one is a bit big yes….Many European carriers have these as well as the ME3. Those carriers want to recoupe their training costs so the pilot couldn’t take their fresh new paid for type rating and immediately go into the contract world with it….it’s absolutely capitalism…. it’s called return on investment!

Dear Republic: Walk this policy back or just call your own time of death.

Management isn't getting golden parachutes either. Any comp above and beyond salary takes 3 to 4 years to vest these days. You leave early, you leave lots of money on the table.

No one will ever choose to sign that agreement. If they offered a $100k signing bonus that vests over three years then that's a different thing. But Envoy is offering a day zero, fully vested $75k signing bonus, why choose even a Republic option that vests over time? There are so many good options because there's so much desperation to find, hire, and retain pilots

> It seems to me that this airline is
> violating that

You have an interesting definition of the word "violating".

The NLRB does not have authority to create legislation. That comes from congress. Moreover, all the NLRB has done is asked the question of should non competes be allowed.

Rather, there is actual work being done at the state level. Both TX and MA that I know of has legislation in committee regarding non competes.

my husband got the contract and we are very not sure about signing it. He is done with the flight instructing and knows he has to start some where.

Omg tell him not to do it!!! There are other airlibes to go work for, it’s a buyers market!! Please please please

Sounds like they really don’t need pilots and figure with this contract, only the most desperate will sign on. An 850 hour mandatory Captain upgrade will only generate a major accident which will put them under. Not to mention, the first officer is being put in the position of having an upgrade failure on there record.

One problem is younger kids who are excited for there first airline job, may not fully comprehend what they are signing on to. I knew a lot of guys who signed on to “pay for training” contracts that the regionals ran back in the late 90’s. They didn’t understand that they would receive no pay for there first year.

Yep, this really is the biggest “got ya” in the contract something a young pilot may not understand and it clearly isn’t defined. So in theory, if the industry stagnates, they could be stuck at Republic until 65, or until Republic goes outta business.

Instead of giving any bonus as a lump sum, spread the bonus over a year (golden handcuffs). Should someone leave before the year, the remaining bonus vaporizes. Therefore, the incentive is to hang around and the environment may change at the end of the year where bonuses are no longer appropriate. During the late 80's, my company got burned by several guys who jumped from company to company collecting up front bonuses and we had very little legal recourse.
And don't hang you hat on non-compete contracts, they are full of woe. Various states and the federal government frown on these contracts. All it would take is one verdict in the pilot's favor, and a the flood gates would open.

Yup. Republic has always had the reputation as a dirt bag outfit….