Denver, CO: Last week, Towards Justice and its client, pilot Christopher Morris, filed a class-action lawsuit against the Denver-based Frontier Airlines Inc., alleging that its Training Repayment Agreement (TRAP) violates Colorado employment and competition laws by penalizing pilots who leave the company in the first two years of employment.

The complaint alleges that Frontier requires new pilots to sign a TRAP that obligates them to pay the company up to $59,190, purportedly for training, if they leave or are fired within two years of starting employment. But Frontier is required to provide the training to all incoming pilots by the Federal Aviation Administration in order to legally operate, and any transferrable credential pilots may earn from the training would cost them a fraction of Frontier’s price tag anywhere else.

The complaint pleads that Frontier has violated the Colorado Wage Claim Act by withholding or demanding repayment of earned wages from its client for employer-specific training, and that the TRAP functions to keep pilots stuck in their jobs in violation of Colorado’s non-compete ban.

“Under Colorado law, workers have the right to work for the employer they choose, and employers have to compete fairly instead of using fine print to keep workers stuck in jobs they want to leave,” said Rachel Dempsey, Associate Director at Towards Justice. “I’m grateful to the pilots here for stepping forward to make those rights a reality.”

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