PSA Pilots Moonlighting, COVID-19
 

Question for PSA pilots.
We have recently been inundated with applications from pilots we know are with various airlines looking for flying work while they sit out the Covid-19 slowdown. We're hearing all the stories from "I'm in a transition", "my company allows us to fly during this slow down", etc., but request we not call for a reference. Some of these pilots are trying to disguise the fact they're actually still employed and two in particular appear to be active PSA employees.
My questions is this - does PSA allow their pilots to moonlight like this and are they allowed to fly elsewhere while they're still employed, sitting on reserve, or under some sort of reduced time?
Thanks to anyone who can clarify.

No one at PSA has yet taken a significant involuntary pay cut. There are people on leave of absence. There’s a prior approval policy but the airlines have bigger fish to fry.

There’s no financial reason anyone on reserve will be looking for extra work. They’re making the same they did six months ago

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not questioning the economics of it, just whether it's permitted by PSA, as I recall there are restrictions in the employment and union contracts regarding non-PSA flying.
So the question is whether it's allowed or not.
Be well!

If they’re on leave they can do as they want since there isn’t any conflict with 117 times. Outside of that there is a section of our FOM allowing additional work with the consent of the chief pilots’ office.

Why don’t you call the company and ask them :rolleyes:

While I was the guy doing the hiring and an applicant requested no contact with their current or most recent employer I removed that individual from consideration.

There are legit reasons to request you don't contact current employers. Plenty of sleazeball operators who will craplist you the second someone contacts them and even suggests you are considering outside employment.

what type of flying are “we”?

This by itself is a terrible way to go about hiring. At a minimum, you should allow them the courtesy of not causing drama where they currently are working until they accept a CJO.

If you have a question about them don’t hire them. Pretty sure you won’t get in any trouble just the person you hired. FFS this world is getting soft.


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Person obviously has very little hiring experience. Why you would come on APC and have to ask is very telling.

The CBA requires company approval to work while on a leave of absence.

I stand corrected, must’ve missed that part. I was just checking the FOM.

Well, they could have taken the leave of absence and are trying to work elsewhere while also collecting the 19-hour pay. Or maybe they're trying to continue to build hours while they know they'd be sitting at PSA.

Like i said. No _financial_ reason for anyone _on reserve_ to be looking for work

Semantics, but it’s pretty easy to see how an extra $1000/mo while also moonlighting can be considered financial.

Also building hours more quickly over time to get a higher paying job translates to financial with one step of deduction.

Delta isn’t going to pick you up for getting a few hundred hours in a hawker or Cessna or whatever OP does.

You don’t have to go to Delta to get a pay raise from PSA 😬

I think everyone is just salty in this thread because OP is looking for someone to tattle on a pilot who’s just trying to better their life.

I agree with the poster earlier that said, “Why don’t you just call the company, OP?”

Lots of us will probably be on the job hunt in a few months. Can’t blame the ones who are looking ahead.

The difference between reserve and leave of absence is not semantic

Suppose I could have said “no one on reserve is looking to moonlight because of a pay cut”

I just like to be devil’s advocate. Can you tell?

Never underestimate how much pilots will scheme. With the abundance of reservists on the grid right now, it’s almost guaranteed that you can arrange your schedule in a way that you won’t be used. So you still get guarantee and you’re free to make more money elsewhere or start working on an early escape plan.

Is it unethical? Yes. But I don’t doubt there are pilots trying to work a contingency plan in these ominous times. October is shaping up to be very unpleasant.

With the wildly liberalized commute policy I think many more reservists will get used

No, not looking to tattle on anybody, it's just we've never seen this before. We don't want to hire, or recommend someone for hire, if that would violate or interfere with an existing contract which only gets them in hot water.

While off-duty cops can moonlight as security guards, etc., this is the first time we've seen active pilots, still on their company's payroll, are seeking other work at the same time.

We've called the couple of airlines and they would not discuss it unless we were calling for a verification of employment of a specific employee. We declined to make that disclosure.

I get the position you're in, and sorry, I wasn't saying YOU were trying to tattle...moreover that asking the pilot group here is essentially asking US to tattle on some of our brothers and sisters that might be just trying to seek better employment.

But I understand you need to know this.

then explain that situation. I have delt with that exact scenario as the person doing the hiring. It wasn’t an issue. The applicant did not hide anything and explained the situation. Ended up being a great employee.

Different situation here. Several applicants did not initially disclose their current, and active, employment to us. When we found out through the standard background checks, these applicants gave us the lines in my initial post.
I have no doubt they would be great employees.
Our concern is interfering with their current contracts, agreements, union, GOM's, and whatever internal policies enacted because of COVID-19.
So, notwithstanding the fact we felt initially deceived, before we do anything, lest we get sued for some bizarre employment tort, we wanted to find out what the policy(ies) are, and whether moonlighting employment was permitted in the current environment.

I don’t think alienation of affection is a thing in employment law .... but ask your lawyer

If they work at PSA and don’t have the Chief pilots approval they are violating company policy and the collective bargaining agreement. I don’t believe you or your company would have any liability in the matter but I’m not a lawyer. I think the worst case would be your new hire would be fired by PSA if they figured it out.

They don’t want you to contact PSA because they most likely don’t have the chiefs approval.

Not sure if you are only concerned about PSA guys. But just as a data point, Envoy LOA explicitly allows outside flying.

Thanks very much for the clarification, as that is what we believed re: PSA's policy/union agreement.

We're not so much worried about our legal liability, but don't want a bad reputation in this business.

https://youtu.be/8Zswlya5xqo


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Good job man!

If I was doing the hiring I'd do same thing, can't expect to get a new job in some vail of secrecy.

PSA pilots are prohibited from conducting non-Company assigned commercial flying without the express written permission of the Director of Operations.

PSA is granting temporary enhanced leaves of absence but as far as I know this still applies.

Question - what are the pilots being paid while "sitting out" the pandemic ? Are they being paid for a minimum number of hours ?

Thanks very much.

19 hours of pay, keep all benefits and seniority.