Reports allege LSG Sky Chefs in violation of OSHA, food safety, and wage laws

LOS ANGELES – Everyday, over 500 workers at the LSG Sky Chefs airline catering kitchen at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) cater flights departing for all over the world. But while a first-class ticket for a Sky Chefs catered flight on Korean Air from LAX to Seoul might cost $8,537, workers who prepare the food report poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, and problems in kitchen facilities.

In recent weeks, workers have filed multiple complaints against LSG Sky Chefs:

• On July 14, LSG Sky Chefs drivers filed a California OSHA complaint alleging the company violates CalOSHA regulations as codified under sanitation and heat exposure provisions of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
• On August 4, workers filed a complaint with the City of Los Angeles for alleged violation of the city’s Minimum Wage Ordinance sick leave policies.
• Based on surveys of 243 LSG Sky Chefs workers, UNITE HERE filed a complaint with the Environmental Health Division of the Los Angeles Department of Public Health on August 31 regarding spoiled food and insects.
• LSG Sky Chefs has failed to meet the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Requirements set by LAX. From December 2016 to April 2017, workers and community members attended the LAX Board of Directors meetings to inform the Board of the violation and give testimony about the negative health impacts ground vehicle fuel emissions.

At LAX, LSG Sky Chefs airline clients include American Airlines, Korean Air, Air New Zealand, El Al, Qatar Airways, Alaska Airlines, SAS and Air Canada.

“We are filing these complaints because we are fed up with the way workers and passengers are being treated by LSG Sky Chefs at LAX,” says Margarita Hernandez, who has worked as a dishwasher at LSG Sky Chefs at LAX for 20 years.

This report summarizes findings from interviews and surveys with LSG Sky Chefs workers at LAX, public records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, and multiple years of OSHA logs.