By News Channel 3
newsline3@kesq.com

PALM SPRINGS - A worker for SkyWest, a partner of Delta Airlines operating out of Palm Springs International Airport, says he wants the same benefits given to married couples in the company.

Gilbert Caldwell married his partner of 34 years last year, and now says he faces different rules when he and his partner want to fly.  He says he is forced to pay a fare for his spouse, 72 year-old Rev. David Farrell, under a "companion" program designated for friends.  Spouses of heterosexual couples do not have to pay the fare.

"SkyWest's denial of equal travel benefits amounts to a reduction in gay and lesbian employees' pay," Lambda Legal has warned the employer. "SkyWest insists that its gay and lesbian employees with a state-registered domestic partner or spouse should not receive the same rate of compensation for their job performance, though Mr. Caldwell is not excused from any of his work hours or job responsibilities."

"I'm not asking for anything SkyWest doesn't already give my straight married coworkers," said Caldwell. "David and I have been together for 34 years and we're legally married. But as far as the airline is concerned, we're nothing more than friends. It's painful and wrong that they're treating our marriage as worth less than those of their heterosexual employees."

News Channel 3 is trying to get a comment from SkyWest.