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Airlines Sue Over Benefits Ordinance

From Times staff and wire reports

U.S. airlines filed a federal suit Tuesday to block a San Francisco ordinance requiring them to offer health benefits to domestic partners of their employees. The lawsuit filed by the Air Transport Assn., which represents the nation’s major airlines, says the city has no right to regulate air carriers. “Airlines have always been governed by federal, not local, laws because it would be impossible to operate in hundreds of communities with different and possibly contradictory local ordinances,” said association President Carol Hallett. Federal law specifically prohibits local governments from mandating employee benefits to national companies, she said. San Francisco Supervisor Susan Leal said she was disappointed by the suit. “It’s very sad that they feel so strongly about not providing equality that they can’t work with the city, they just have to sue the city,” she said. The ordinance approved last year goes into effect June 1. The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring enforcement of the law.

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