United Airlines unilaterally imposed new conditions on sick time that flight attendants had earned. In order to use sick time, cabin crew who call in sick on a Friday through Sunday have to submit an Absence Certificate completed by a doctor. This isn’t just a doctor’s note. It details the employee’s treatment plan and their medical progress.
- This is meant to reduce employees calling out sick. United says there’s been an uptick in sick calls over weekends this summer.
- It appears to violate the flight attendant contract, and potentially even some laws.
- However even if the new rule is ultimately overturned, it likely scares some flight attendants out of calling in sick in the meantime. That means fewer fake sick calls, and more crew who are sick showing up to work (infecting colleagues and passengers.
Flight attendants who won’t share personal medical information with the airline but don’t work sick are being threatened with termination. Demanding this information unless “particulars of treatment…are job-related and necessary for the conduct of business” has been deemed illegal and resulted in substantial fines in the past. California-based flight attendants likely have even stronger state-level claims.
Employees are furious about this new policy. While the union says it’s filing a grievance, individual flight attendants have been bombarding both federal and state agencies with complaints on their own.
According to a voicemail recording received by a United flight attendant in response to a complaint regarding the new weekend sick policy requiring an absence certificate, the Department of Labor has assigned an investigator and is launching an investigation. I reached out to United, but the airline declined to comment.
@Gary, all of this airline drama is a nice distraction from the obvious larger drama going on in the news cycle.
Football and the race to the baseball post season will be a welcome added distraction.
Thanks Gary.
I hope they are also looking at them requiring this for people who have FMLA and requiring new hires to have monthly meetings with management but yet not paying them! This is only going to encourage sick flight attendants to come into work and spread it all around to crews and then the passengers! Meanwhile COVID is on the rise in California again. It’s beyond ridiculous
Will United be covering the copays/deductible costs of these required visits?
Didn’t think so.
@TimeWillTell … +1 . They like sick people coming to meetings , and millions of sick people coming across the border , and going straight to U.S. emergency rooms .
Why can’t these big mean corporations that pay me a salary just be nice and let me not work and still pay me my salary without making me feel bad about being a terrible degenerate employee??? I mean guhhhhhlll.
I work for united as an FA. Miss the pre-merger days as a continental FA.
Changes since then have not been the greatest between the Frontline workers, passengers, and loyalty program passengers.
Type of service has degraded. Service provided by junior FA’s have degraded.
I made 1300 a month for the first two years and did far more than today’s junior groups.
We had a far more flexible schedule and very few people called in sick. We had it made as far as scheduling adjustments go.
After the common metal merger and COVID everything fell to sht.
Sick calls and FMLA applications skyrocketed.
No one calls in sick for trips with layovers internationally or Hawaii.
4am-7am check in?
13 hour duty?
2-4 hour sit time between flights?
4 leg days?
Minimum layover time?
Purser position?
Low value pairing?
Pay attention.
I wish FMLA could be tracked and investigated
Is this new policy only applicable to the Flight Attendant work group? If a pilot calls in sick on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, are they also required to present a note from a medical Doctor?
Sounds like a Lawsuit in the makings.
@Bob Dulaq – this is specific to flight attendants
I do believe, that very few companies want to have a sick person working. But all these airlines are dealing with a statistic problem and can’t see a reason why sick calls are so much higher on weekends and certain holidays. AA with their point system has the same problem.
The current airline solution is higher staffing that leads to higher airfares for the customers. And it’s usually just a couple of people destroying nice stuff for the rest.
Everyone signing up for the Flight Attendant or Pilot job understands that they need to work on weekends in the beginning. So do doctors, nurses etc. The new pilot contracts give extra pay for working over certain holidays. That seems to work better than punishing workgroups. Maybe the new FA contracts get the same extra pay.
However, every extra pay will lead to higher fares in the end. That’s fine with me as it increases safety.
And lots of people complaining about the unfair practices here are then quick to point to out how much rather they book a ticket with Qatar, Emirates & Co for the service and possibly cheaper price. Anyone ever looked into the sick policy of the Middle Eastern Airlines? I’m happy we have a better system for sick calls in the United States, but possible abuse must be stopped. However it must stay legal as well.
1 bad apple screws it up for everyone else. Seems like it would take too much time to get a Doctor’s note. A good manager will recognize a bad employee, A bad manager will look the other way. A good Union will help the member, A bad Union will baby and make excuses.
Typical bureaucratical overreach! DoL has no business in this, it’s a matter between the Company and Union and mechanisms are in place to deal with it.
The sick note is one thing. Requiring diagnosis and treatment plan is way out of line and likely violates HIPAA.
Maybe if management agreed to a fair and decent contract after 4 years, FAs wouldn’t want to call out so much. People call out from work when morale is low, and this step will do nothing to raise it. I like United, but they need to do better.
So the DOT is investigating DL, the DOL is investigating UA, and the FAA is investigating WN.
It is clear that Washington has decided the high profile airlines are their whipping boys while all kinds of other industries get a pass.
Airline employees do vote
Chatting with attendants on flights, they all complain that their contract is constantly violated and nothing can be done about it so I think it’s fair they take matters in their own hands and show their love back to United. Best of luck to all United frontline workers!
It’s some what of a small change because it will weed out the lying flight stewardesses that choose to make false sick calls than the ones who honestly have to do it when they are really sick and need the time to recover & get well for going back to work. But,I can also see this type of situation is probably gonna turn into a battle ground over this action because a lot of stewardesses might think this is highly unfair
Lying is part of USA airline culture. Why wouldn’t a so highly valued skill be turned against corporate in the form of lying about being sick?
If you think absenteeism is tied to the union contract delay, think again. This behavior existed while contracts were in date. The pilot Summer flu has spread. People just won’t leave their jobs because they make too much to start over.
I hate that the form creates an acronym for Health Care Provider (HCP) and then never uses that acronym. They actually use “Health Care Provider” spelled out twice on the form. That is a legitimate union grievance.
Please note, United FAs receive two disciplinary points when they call out sick- even with hours in their sick bank. There is a .5 point reduction when a doctors note is provided. They are literally PUNISHED when they are legitimately sick. Requiring an absence certificate (separate from doctors note) is typically and contractually only required around Christmas and the Fourth of July.
Shame on United
United has been intentionally decreasing FAs trade flexibility for years with the express intent being union-busting and lowering employee morale.
Sick calls are higher on weekends because United restricts trading by arbitrarily manipulating the scheduling systems “staffing numbers” without any kind of transparency. United has more flight attendants than it did prior to 2020, but still uses the same system and same flight attendant contractual legalities, but the company has intentionally manipulated the staffing pool numbers in a way to cause the system to automatically deny trade requests.
The massive decrease in flexibility for trading leads to an increase in sick calls when other trading options fail (we’re talking about life-needs trades, not trades because people don’t like their trips…birthdays, doctors appointments, already scheduled vacations, various family functions, etc…) which leads to the company manipulating staffing pool numbers even more, which leads to even more sick calls.
Keep in mind, United didn’t have the kind of operational meltdowns/staffing issues prior to 2020 (around the time that the company began decreasing flexibility for trading) to the same degree that it does today (routinely in January and July for the last 3 years in a row)
If United just treated their employees like humans rather than cattle, and allowed their FAs the flexibility they need to manage their lives, United scheduling wouldn’t have to spend so much time and money “reacting” to last minute staffing and operational changes because of sick calls. People would make their schedules work for them and wouldn’t have to call out sick because they couldn’t get out of a trip that fell over their kids band concert.
Trades would happen sooner. Schedules would be set sooner. Crew scheduling would have a clearer picture much sooner of what the operational needs are for any given day, and they can plan accordingly by optimizing how they’re using reserves in the days leading up to days where more coverage is needed. You can also more reliably collect data that will help you plan for how schedules should be built in the future because your sick calls won’t be so volatile.
And at the end of the day, this new policy that United is shoving down FAs throats is union-busting in and of itself. The same week the FA union announces a strike vote, United management decides to come out with a big “f*** you” to the very same workgroup…not just by announcing a new policy, but by announcing a new policy that VIOLATES their contract.
If United just stopped being an abusive employer, they’d find a lot of their problems will disappear…because they created them themselves.
This is all United’s retaliation against flight attendants who are ready to strike.
Unfortunately. According to the Contract .United is not in any violation . But it’s still shitty of them to do this ..
In the contract:
UPDATE!!!!
Upon further investigation the company is in compliance.
Section 13: Sick Leave > C. Medical Verification > 5.
“5 . Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent the Company from requiring a Flight Attendant to provide satisfactory verification of an incapacitating illness from an accredited physician when circumstances suggest that abuse or misuse of sick leave has occurred”.
I am not a United employee but I have friends that are. I was an executive and in management with major corporations for years. The is a bonehead , counterproductive move by the United management team.and ultimately bad for United customers and shareholders alike..United airlines management team and certainly the highly paid CEO. have a legitimate problem. of course. There are some employees abusing their sick leave privileges. However the majority are not! Therefore, accusing all employees/flight attendants as if they are guilting of taking sick leave when they are not sick and being untruthful is something no company management should ever by guilty of. This is a no win strategy. In addition, the recent software crash left flight attendants stranded and unable to commute to work. No seats, cancelled flights and even though the company gave positive space to F A’s, if the flights were overbooked the flight attendant was dropped and unable to get to work. If the flight was cancelled the flight attendant could not get to work. Therefore united in their wisdom ended up cancelling or delaying more flights due to insufficient crews. If a flight is full and you need to have crews get to work for the overall “big picture” and revenue health of the company, it is better to get you crew staffed on aircraft even if you have to inconvenience a few passengers rather than inconvenience potentially thousands of passenger due to insufficient flight crews. In regard to employees abusing sick leave. This absenteeism, is not a unique problem to United Airlines or the airline industry. Many corporations have this challenge but rather than just use the stick approach they also employ the carrot approach . For example incentives and examples of rewards for a great attendance record. Management educating not accusing all employees to the adverse effects of absenteeism on profitability and morale. A lot more to be said but, come on United management you should be Smarter and certainly better than this. It seems you have a higher percentage of FA’s that are dedicated hardworking employees that love the company that they work for and love being the face of United airlines. Unfortunately, United management has chosen to treat all flight attendants as liars that would rather call in sick when they are not rather than to be dedicated to their job at United. Shame on you United. You should be smarter at managing and motivating your dedicated employees.
There are better ways to motivate and incentify rather than threaten and treat all FA’s as if they are .all trying to cheat the company.
.
As an FA myself, I may be in the minority when I say this, but I appreciate this policy. I have seen rampant abuse of sick time, and other FAs like me have to get called in in the middle of the night to work because people can’t be responsible and do their jobs. I hope this policy reduces some of that abuse. Let’s be honest, this policy isn’t going to make sick people come to work… it’s going to keep the abusers from abusing the system. There’s a paragraph in the contract that states that they can require an Absent Verification upon discovery of abuse, so this is completely contractual, the union just doesn’t want to say it. *Eye roll(
*Spoiler Alert* – This isn’t a contract violation. The contract states that if flight attendants abuse sick calls, the company can request an absence certificate. Sorry about it.
A doctor’s note and this absence certificate are not the same.
Any CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) does not supersede FMLA law, so yes, there is a due process for FLMA certification, recertification, 2nd opinion, 3rd opinion ( if there is a suspected abuse of FMLA) the employer FMLA manual explains the employer has to pay for the 2nd and 3rd opinion. Nobody reads anymore. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/employerguide.pdf Check out page 33 and read ALL of chapter 4!
@moira this is a contract violation. The contract doesn’t say “If flight attendants abuse sick calls” it says “if A flight attendant is suspected of abusing sick calls”. Since when does “a” mean an entire work group of more than 25,000 people? Also how can a flight attendant who hasn’t called out sick in at least a year let’s say be suspected of abusing sick leave policy?
In a free society this wouldn’t be an issue. The company would be able to implement any rule and the employees would be required to comply or suffer the consequences. Under this scenario, the rights of both parties would be equal.
I read a previous comment from a Flight Attendant that identified themselves as a pre-merger Continental Flight Attendant and how they liked things better prior to the merger. Well, that’s news! I am a pre-merger United Flight Attendant and I feel the same way. We had it much better before we merged with an airline that gave up work rules during their multiple bankruptcies. So there is that. Needless to say, we ARE a merged airline and have been for many years now. Continuing to harp on the past is not helpful. The issue here is the Draconian sick leave policy that United has decided to throw at Flight Attendants during contract negotiations. Let’s see how the Labor Department deals with it and keep petty differences between pre-merger airlines out of the conversation. Thank you.
@George not that I want to bring up the merger, but it wasn’t sCO fas that voted in this current contract. I’m not saying it was an easy decision and it was an ugly merger but every time I hear a sUA fa blame the current state of work rules ect on CO I just wonder how they’re coming to that conclusion since it was sUA fas that voted in this contract. The reason it’s relevant is because sCO they wouldn’t have pulled this because we got compensated for grievances. For whatever reason sUA loved AFA and getting compensated for grievances wasn’t important for them and that brings us where we are now. A contract that isn’t enforceable and the company continues to break it and when they legally get called out nothing happens.
Diagnoses is a violation of Hepatitis laws. It management thinks the sick policy is very then all management should have the same sick policy. If it’s good for the goose then it’s good for the gander. The easy fix is to make trips easy and longer layovers, and less sit time. Then flight attendants would be willing to work the trips. Also, everyone should treat everyone they way they expect to be treated, so be nice passengers it works more in your favorite. And say please and thank you, it shows you appreciate the flight attendants coming to work and getting passengers to their final destination.
I’ve been a flight attendant for United for over 10 years and we have become a horrible company that cares for nothing but profit. Passengers need to start speaking up and stop flying United because they don’t listen to us flight attendants.
These are just a few things that United does that puts your safety and comfort at risk:
1. Use your United app and check where your airplane is coming from. 95% of the time your airplane is arriving 30 minutes before it’s supposed to depart again. Let’s say your departure is at 1 p.m. you will see your airplane is landing at 12:30 p.m. meaning that they only have 30 minutes to deplane, clean, cater and board your flight. Zero time to take care of maintenance issues, everything is “deferred” including malfunctioning door handles, air conditioning, broken toilets, etc.
2. We are not allowed to delay flights for lack of catering supplies.
Meaning if we have no drinking water, snacks, meals, etc we still must go and deal with passengers later.
3. They have this idea that the longer we spend serving snacks/meals/drinks the better experience for the passengers. They have made the service so complicated especially on international flights that some passengers need to wait 3 hours before they can get a drink/snack/meal. They’ve removed staffing and increased the amount of service we provide.
4. You should go to your App store and give a 1 star rating to the United app. United forces you to download their app and register your credit card in order to be able to make any purchases on board. It is inconvenient for both the passengers and the flight attendants. United just wants to track you while claiming it is the most downloaded app.
United is being cheap when they have enough money to invest on a point of sale device like most decent airlines do. Also look at the ridiculous prices they charge for food and drinks.
5. Seats and toilets are never cleaned properly. I suggest you bring your own lysol wipes and thoroughly wipe your seat, arm rests, screens, seatbelt buckle, etc. Also wipe everything in the toilet and don’t walk barefoot, they NEVER mop the toilet floors and they’re contaminated with urine and feces.
For the longest time United lied to you that they sanitized high touch surfaces, but that’s a total lie. They stopped spraying back in February 2021. Cleaners are forced to get on the airplane while passengers are deplaning which is unsafe for both passengers and cleaners. Because of the very short time in between flights United forces cleaners to remove any “visible” debris and make the airplane “look” clean. I had several instances where there was vomit on the floor and seats and the cleaners barely wiped the area to make it “look” clean and sprayed aromatic spray, no sanitizing at all!
These are just a few things but the problem is much bigger like incompetence from management and the operations team. Seems like they just go to a homeless shelter and hire anyone willing to run the operations. There’s no common sense!
Send your complaints to feedback@united.com and stop flying United until they become a decent airline again!
Shouldn’t employees given sick leave as part of their benefits package be allowed to use it without penalty?
United has made it almost impossible for flight attendants to make trades on weekends.
Many most times in the past flight attendants would trade and pick up trips to help each other out. Because as stated even with a note they accrue points that leads to disciplinary action,
The work rules, not being paid for all hours on the job, the level of stress and hostility directed towards flight attendants creates recurring illnesses.
Post Covid United had cut every possible corner and continues not to give the employees on the line what they need to do their jobs
no wonder morale is the lowest ever & immune systems are tanked!!
This reminds me of ancient history were Egyptian kings requiring slaves to increase their production but not giving them even the straw to make bricks then beat continuously for not delivering their quotas!
Hmmmmmm
These comments saying this doesn’t violate the contract have a poor grasp on the English language. How can the company suspect abuse on ALL FAs who call out on any weekend? Easiest grievance win ever.
United is a terrible airline! Almost 6 hours flight from San Diego to Newark and got nothing but a bag of pretzel and a coke! Had to pay to select my seat and also got charged $10 for a glass of wine! What a joke! Same as Spirit but 5 times more expensive! The DOT has to end United’s monopoly!
They treat their employees and customers like trash!
Scott Kirby fired me while was still getting treatments for cancer. Is that a big violation! I turned in my paper work on time. Kirby has no people skills and he does have a hate for flight attendants. He never will feel we do enough as flight attendants. He does not understand RESPECT!!!
Kirby is right up there with good old Frank Lorenzo. Remember him!!!
These are all understandable and valid comments, however I’m surprised to not find any narrowing in to the true cause of the under staff issues. The short-staff issues is the result of mass senior sudden terminations, high numbers of resignations, and very low new hire-retention. Who’s in charge @UA???
@Numbers don’t lye!!!