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Complaint follows Cal/OSHA citations for multiple “serious” workplace safety violations

LOS ANGELES:  Workers have filed a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), urging state inspectors to investigate allegations of unsafe or unsanitary conditions inside Flying Food Group’s airline catering facilities serving Los Angeles International Airport.

The complaint, filed on behalf of workers by UNITE HERE Local 11, alleges that employees have been exposed to a range of unsafe conditions—including what workers reported to be maggots, mold, and cockroaches, as well as inadequate soap and paper towels and excessive heat—inside facilities responsible for preparing thousands of airline meals. The union has submitted photographs, videos, and worker testimony and is calling for an expedited on-site inspection.

According to the complaint, in late June 2026, one longtime employee was allegedly ordered to open airline dish carts that had sat unopened for an extended period and discovered dishes covered in decomposing food, and what appeared to be mold, maggots, and flies, producing an overwhelming stench.  The worker allegedly suggested that the dishes be discarded, but was instead instructed by a supervisor to wash them because the dishes were needed for an upcoming flight. According to the complaint, the worker—who reported experiencing stomach pain, a headache, and a strange sensation in her nose while handling the noxious material—was not provided a mask or respirator to protect herself.

The complaint also alleges that workers have reported seeing what they believed to be cockroaches and other vermin in various parts of the facility—including in food preparation areas, near employee changing stations, near airline food carts, and inside the employee cafeteria.  The complaint cites California laws requiring that employers provide a safe workplace and take steps to prevent the entrance or harborage of insects, rodents or other vermin.

The complaint also alleges that bathrooms and handwashing stations have often lacked adequate soap or paper towels, forcing employees to search elsewhere before returning to prepare food. Additionally, the complaint raises concerns about the quality of food served to workers at the facility, including allegations of expired or stale bread, food contaminated by debris, and improperly stored food.

The complaint also describes dangerously high temperatures in the facility’s dish room. A longtime employee reports that heat and humidity regularly make the room feel like “being in a sauna,” allegedly causing fatigue, dehydration, and headaches, and that a coworker reportedly nearly fainted from the heat. According to the complaint, management has been made aware of the problem but has not been provided a solution. The complaint asserts that these and other incidents, taken together, indicate that the company lacks the effective injury and illness prevention program required by California law.

“No one should have to work around maggots, cockroaches, mold, and rotting food just to earn a paycheck, as this complaint alleges,” said Susan Minato, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents the workers. “The workers who prepare meals for airline passengers deserve a workplace that meets the most basic standards of cleanliness and safety. We ask Cal/OSHA to take these issues seriously and investigate immediately.”

A Record of Safety Violations

Flying Food Group’s LAX operations have a long record of alleged safety violations. Most recently, in May 2026, Cal/OSHA issued the company six citations, including four it termed “Serious.”  Two of the serious violations related to the company’s failure to ensure that cold storage rooms at two LAX facilities could be utilized safely and opened from the inside. In August 2023, Cal/OSHA had cited the company for the same storage room entrapment hazard—as part of a six-violation citation that also included bolting an exit door shut from the outside on the day of a planned worker picket line—but the company apparently did not correct the hazard.  This led to a near tragedy during a fire in January 2026 in which two workers were found inside a cooler room whose entrance door had been chained shut from the outside. These citations and a summary are available here.

The complaint comes amid an ongoing labor dispute between Flying Food Group and UNITE HERE Local 11 over conditions at the company’s LAX facilities. In the course of that dispute, the union has proposed multiple workplace safety protections which Flying Food Group has rejected.

Flying Food Group is an airline catering company that provides in-flight meals for international airlines flying out of LAX like Lufthansa, Air France, SWISS Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, ANA, Starlux, China Southern, Qantas, Air New Zealand, and Hawaiian Airlines.  LAX authorities recently gave FFG only a six-month extension—terminating at the end of 2026—to its license to operate at LAX.  The City has launched an investigation into the Company’s safety and labor practices.

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UNITE HERE Local 11 is a labor union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers, and airports.