Summary
- United Airlines flight attendants are facing a new attendance policy with short notice.
- The policy requires weekend doctor’s notes and 72-hour submission, risking termination if not complied with.
- The crewmembers’ union has criticized United’s management for making abrupt changes days after the global IT crisis.
United Airlines flight attendants endured an undoubtedly challenging weekend as a global IT outage wreaked havoc across the aviation industry. However, the crewmembers grasped a new reality on Sunday as management updated their absence policy with little notice.
The move has their union, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), accusing the Chicago-based carrier of violating their contract and having a “lack of respect.” On Saturday, the union highlighted that the new policy is specifically unethical around the number of days in the year when a doctor’s note is required and when it is submitted.
Threatening termination
The AFA claims that United violated its contract twice and provided “less than 24 hours’ notice” about the changes. The updated policy was implemented on Sunday, according to a scheduling alert released on Saturday from management.
“Effective July 21 and until further notice, all flight attendants who call in sick for trips departing/reserve days on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays are required to submit an absence certificate.”
Photo: Jon Tetzlaff | Shutterstock
The policy also requires that flight attendants must submit their certificate of absence to United’s medical team in a timely manner. Crewmembers now must submit a physician’s release “within 72 hours of calling off sick leave.” Should a flight attendant fail to do so, they “will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment,” as outlined in the policy update.
Two violations
According to the AFA, the first contract violation involves the new weekend requirement for doctors’ notes. The contract does allow periods in which United can require absence certificates. However, they are reportedly around the Fourth of July and the end-of-year holidays, not every weekend.
Photo: lorenzatx | Shutterstock
The second violation concerns the 72-hour window to submit an absence certificate. Under the current contract regulations, flight attendants must submit a doctor’s note “on or before check-in time of a Lineholder’s first trip or a Reserve’s first assignment including Standby Reserve, following an illness or injury.” If the absence certificate is somehow not received, the crewmember will then have three days after their “first trip flown or Standby Reserve assignment to provide the note.” As such, the AFA said management imposed its own requirement, but its representatives have no choice but to comply with them to avoid any kind of disciplinary measures.
“Just how tone-deaf management is”
There is no question that United suffered greatly from the major technical complications felt worldwide. However, as the weekend progressed, the airline began to recover swiftly, compared to its competitor Delta Air Lines, which otherwise has experienced a rather difficult path to recovery with nearly 4,000 canceled flights.
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Nonetheless, the AFA says the new absence policy illustrates how disconnected United’s management is.
“Flight Attendants on the line the last few days have endured the effects of another irregular operation. We have once again risen to the challenge and made it all work while dealing with one the largest IT outages in history. […] Management couldn’t be bothered to wait until this unprecedented crisis was resolved to blatantly violate our Contract; they had to do it right now, in the midst of the chaos. This is a clear indication of just how tone-deaf management is. […] This is also a reflection of the ongoing state of deteriorating labor relations within the company.”
Upon being notified of the changes, the United Master Executive Council (MEC) contacted the AFA’s legal team immediately about filing an MEC grievance, but the flight attendants were warned that the “process will take time.” In the meantime, the union encourages any crewmember to keep a record of any occurrences in which they have been affected by the new requirements.
Simple Flying contacted United for comment on the matter over the weekend, but did not receive an immediate response.
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