United Airlines is reportedly threatening flight attendants with potential termination to discourage them from seeking FMLA leave, as flagged by aviation watchdog JonNYC.
“Email UA flight crew get after submitting FMLA request” pic.twitter.com/K1IFKI23ZZ
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) June 25, 2025
Please submit substantial medical facts to support how your condiiton incapacitates you on a foreseeable/intermittent basis for up to 4 times per month/up to 3 days which is a total of 12 days per month. This information is not only required to determine approval of your FML request but also to determine if you are fit to work as a Flight Attendant.
United says they will use medical information submitted for federally-protected leave to potentially fire you. That’s insane. Surely they wouldn’t actually do that (making adverse employment decisions on the basis of a medical condition)? But also they appear to be threatening to do it in order to discourage flight attendants from seeking this leave.
JonNYC previously reported that United had become challenging to get approval for FMLA leave from.
someone adds:
"The UA FMLA stuff is apparently company wide, not just crew. Some bean counter must have seen how much fmla was being used across all departments and really cracked down on"— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) June 13, 2025
Last summer the airline demanded doctors notes when flight attendants called in sick on a weekend. Earlier this year they demanded advance notice from flight attendants that they would get sick.
Flight attendants who don’t work are costly to the airline. They hired a private detective to spy on a flight attendant who had been injured and then fired him. It appears the airline’s fight against employees using their contractual sick time continues.
The United Airlines flight attendants union negotiated a new contract with the airline, that crewmembers are currently considering, which does not curtail this practice.
Ah, textbook retaliation…
Flight attendants are there for our safety. I would imagine it’s a job requirement that they are physically able to handle the duties assigned to them. If they have a condition which incapacitates them, I would imagine that’s relevant to their fitness for duty.
Wow! I’m kinda surprised they would put that in writing.
sick time accrual is contractual, thus using that sick time should also be granted.more specifically when at the end of one’s carrier any left over sick time is lost or paid back at cents ( particularly at one airline 8.16%) on the Dollar. A significant pay loss to the employee.
United Airlines has become a horrible place to work. I should know as I was there almost 30 years and saw it as the best and, in my last years, the absolute worst. You can thank Scott Kirby for that as he has NO BUSINESS running a hospitality/service enterprise.
Looking at this from 50K feet:
1. Companies everywhere are seeing sick time use and FMLA exploding.
2. What constitutes needing to take sick time is very subjective, as can be FMLA, and we’ve all seen examples of people abusing the system.
3. A business counts on employees showing up to run the business. Unexpected call out (and sick outs) reduce operational reliability for airlines.
4. If their actions are legal they have every right to request whatever documentation is legal…or what’s allowable through collective bargaining here.
5. United’s point is correct. If you’re too infirm to show up for work, how can you be expected to perform the duties…particularly if the reason for your sickness or FMLA is not going to be mitigated.
@Parker — What happened to all the folks decrying ‘bureaucracy’ and ‘de-regulation’ when its suits them, but then, when humans are humans (and sometimes ‘need’ healthcare), the tables turn, all the paperwork in the world, documentation, fill out this form, no, not that form, this other form, etc… Maybe airlines should hire, train, and pay more people, so that there are no operational lapses.
United isn’t the first nor the last to do any of this. It isn’t illegal.
Making them see the United-chosen clinic for initial certification? Well, I worked at an airline where over 700 flight attendants in one primary base all had intermittent FMLA for the same nervous condition and all certified by the same doctor (who had ads in the union LEC newsletter). And this condition tended to flare up around holidays, oddly, which this doctor said was “expected.” Not suspect?
If you are in a position that has physical requirements for safety of yourself and co-workers/customers, it is legal to ask for substantiation you can do your job if you inform the company you need time off because you can’t. Especially intermittently when it has no notice. If you can be incapacitated with no notice for several days at a time, should you be flying a 3 day trip out around perhaps to other countries and have a flare up? What about in the middle of a trans-Pacific flight without medical care available?
Used to have issues in employee parking lot where some administrative employees legitimately had a need for handicap parking. But they never could find a spot as the spaces were often taken for 3-4 days at a time by the same vehicles. I ran the handicap hang tags versus the parking permits and they were all flight attendants. If they had a handicap tag for inability to walk a few hundred feet to a bus stop, how could they perform their duties on the plane safely, such as making it to the plane? They were asked to do a fitness for duty certification.
United does do alternate duty assignments if necessary to accommodate people. At my local airport, which is otherwise outsourced, there’s a UA flight attendant (in uniform) working the gate as boarding agent for a few months due to a medical need.
And yeah… this isn’t just airlines. Someone working for the power company who climbs poles or goes up in bucket trucks who suddenly has a “can be incapacitated without notice for up to 3 days several times a month” is going to be asked to substantiate they are safe to perform their job – even if it’s a government position.
@NedsKid — Let’s not conflate mere requests for documentation as what this actually is: “(used) Against You.” If that’s actually what United explicitly said (or does), then that’s retaliation. A no-no.
I worked for a very large engineering company and they chose to just call all time off as PTO, paid time off, and not get in your knickers about what you are doing when you were not at work. They merged vacation and sick leave into that PTO account and regulated it to the hour charged.
It kept privacy where it should be. If you exceeded your PTO, then clearly you were not paid and there was a trigger to determine if you were going to remain employed.
The reserve pool requirement can easily be calculated by the total PTO allocation; however, mitigating against over the average periods is problematic, not just for airlines.
For the company to challenge your actual wellbeing and demand 3rd party verification is, imo, likely illegal, and at the least fostering a hostile work environment. PTO frees up all of that angst.
I had to laugh at some bean counter coming up with a memo that requested folks to predict when they were going to be sick! They should ask for winning lottery numbers while they are at it.
The reserve pool manages risk, but is not perfect. Reassignment of future crews to fill current needs whilst paying them a premium is going to be less costly to the company than cancelling a flight and allows time to source reserve crews for later flights.
I struggle to see why the airlines think this is so difficult to manage.
@1990: If you need time off from work due to sudden incapacitating events, is it not appropriate to say hey, maybe you can’t do your job where having one of these events would harm others? It is law to have the position, or if a one-off role that is business-critical then a similar role, available at the end of FMLA or return to full duty.
Do you propose that anybody has any time off they want at any time for any condition, no questions asked?
Wait, are you there for safety, or for service? Pick a lane.
@NedsKid — If any employer seeks to ‘Use Your Medical Info Against You’ then that’s a problem. If we’re talking laws, then I’d say, get a lawyer if you received that message in-writing directed at you. Like, build a case, you might get to retire early. *wink*
@Mantis — I would say ‘one trick pony,’ but you’re more of a ‘phony.’ You know well that it’s a hierarchy of needs, sir. Safety first. Then your freakin’ PDB. Bah!
@Gregory: I am all for a combined PTO pool. I rarely use sick time so would definitely favor this.
However, this is going beyond a run of the mill sick call and into FMLA which is for either a prolonged single or series of intermittent absences – in this case it is intermittent FMLA. This is protected time out and once paid means such as vacation/sick/PTO are exhausted, the company has to by law let you out (per doctor instructions and certification) without pay, not to exceed 12 weeks in a rolling 12 month period. The FMLA process, which is regulated by the Department of Labor, specifies all of this. And yes, it allows certification and the company is legally allowed to force a second or third opinion on need for leave/medical condition at the company’s expense (or they may provide the initial medical consultations at company expense). So all of this is legal and regulated. Depending on the condition, after each absence, the company can require a fitness to work certification if it believes that the employee may not be able to perform job functions or would cause a safety problem.
There is no HIPPA violation, no requirement to turn over actual medical records, just certification from a medical professional – which the company can choose if it pays all of it at no cost to employee.
@1990: Directly from the Department of Labor:
(Q) Do I have to give my employer my medical records for leave due to a serious health condition?
No. An employee is not required to give the employer his or her medical records. The employer, however, does have a statutory right to request that an employee provide medical certification containing sufficient medical facts to establish that a serious health condition exists.
This is all part of the dismantling of the improved employee culture that came from Oscar Munoz’ tenure as CEO and which ended decades of very contentious relationships between UA labor and mgmt.
While UA’s point is likely legal and valid, they are going to see a decrease in morale which will result in degraded customer service.
UA is clearly choosing not to match the labor cost increases which other airlines are incurring which means that the combination of lower pay and less attractive workrules will make UA a more confrontational workplace.
@NedsKid — Yes, I am aware that employers can request documentation here. That’s not at issue. But, feel free to keep repeating it. And I’ll repeat: No employer can explicitly threaten employees to “Use Your Medical Info Against You.” That’s the actual issue. (The sad ‘loophole’ is that as long as they don’t literally say the quiet part out loud, employers can be incredibly cruel to their employees… ya see, here, United messed up, by sayin’ it. I know, I wish things were better. Be decent, folks.)
@Tim Dunn — Bingo! I sense this is a petty escalation on the road to increase conflicts in the industry and larger economy between labor and the ownership class. It’s always been a class war, masked as a culture war. I still think collective bargaining and the peaceful redress of grievances is far better than ‘storming the mansions…’
1990
you and I agree about alot but stating that collective bargaining provides a better solution seems contrary to reality.
The American work ethic deteriorated during covid and hasn’t recovered. It is costly for companies to continue to hold onto people that have lower than average productivity.
UA is undoing the positive labor relations that existed under Oscar. UA today doesn’t want to match industry pay raises and benefits and are piling on with dealing w/ productivity issues.
This will spread to all UA workgroups.
United is a horrible airline to work for and the few times I’ve chimed in to discuss that fact, my posts get excluded. No threats, no cursing, just 30 years of experience with them. Who’s running this site? United?
Needing up to 12 days a month ( intermittently ) is a disability rather than a fmla issue . Employers sometimes offer enhanced insurance coverage that can be purchased ( or one could seek out private policies). Also using disability coverage will pay part of your salary. If you can’t work, your employer has the right to know why.
@1990 —
“It’s always been a class war, masked as a culture war. I still think collective bargaining and the peaceful redress of grievances is far better than ‘storming the mansions…’’
Thank you. Well said.
@Tim Dunn — Aww shucks, it was worth a try.
As for ‘work ethic,’ my goodness, Americans are already worked to the bone, compared to most other developed, Western countries. Sure, we are not in factories making the next iPhone, but, the ‘grindset’ is not ‘work-life-balance’ whatsoever, and the deterioration of ‘safety nets’ and lack of compensation relative to inflation is increasingly worrying. Plus, how many hundreds (or thousands) of times more should a CEO really make over average employees. Oscar got between $9-18 million per year. Kirby got nearly $34 million last year! Sheesh. But, no, flight attendants earning $40K/year are the problem. ‘nO bOdY wAnTs To WoRk AnYmOrE…’
I’m confused. FML is Family & Medical Leave and can often be unpaid leave (depending on where you live). It’s not the same thing as calling in sick on a weekend.
FML is not used when you suddenly caught the norovirus and are having violent explosions of liquid from both ends. (Seriously, are you meant to work when you spend half of every hour in the loo?)
FML is not used when you suddenly contract the flu, a cold, or Covid? (Again, are you meant to work where you come into close contact with, not only other employees and FAs, but hundreds of passengers? The rule of thumb is if you have had a fever in the past 24 hours, stay at home. A fever can come on suddenly.)
It may be the industry in which I work (publicly traded computer security) but FML is used to take additional time off of work for pregnancy, when a parent or child is ill, and when you can no longer take MTO. (MTO is “manager’s time off,” we do not accrue PTO. We take time off whenever and how much we want, as long as it’s agreed to between us and our manager. It can be days, weeks, or even a month+.)
Does FML mean something entirely different in the airline industry and to the union? Because, wut the heck?
(Oh, and FMLA is The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. And some states have passed their own amendments. But it allows for time off without pay. Not sick leave. For covered employers, which is more than 50 employees.)
@kimmiea — We don’t seem to learn these lessons. ‘History repeats itself, and then deletes itself.’ Time for another ‘go-around’ it seems.
@Maryland — One more time…
…Documentation: Good. (Not at issue.)
…‘We’ll Use Your Medical Info Against You’: Not good. (At issue.)
@1990: Where did they say “We’ll Use Your Medical Info Against You” or is this just a case of Gary/AI making up a blog post title again to get our clicks? If you have a condition where you can suddenly go comatose with no warning, I don’t think the airline should let you still be a flight attendant until you get that resolved (or find another position for you).
@Sue: You are correct on FML… but it does include far more than just pregnancy. The issue at hand here is intermittent FMLA. That can be for things like regular doctor appointments or treatments. Or a flare up of an illness. It isn’t a continual leave…. a doctor could write a certification, like this case, that allows to call out “intermittent basis for up to 4 times per month/up to 3 days which is a total of 12 days per month” and could be with anything from one day to no notice. So the person could call United and say “I’m out for the next 3 days, FML on file” and can do that 4 times a month. For something that is clearly severe, there is a question if they are fit for duty as a flight attendant – versus perhaps another role temporarily.
@NedsKid — Reminds me of Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) character’s sleep disorder in the movie Rat Race.
Generally, employers are prohibited from terminating or targeting employees on the basis of medical conditions (often considered ‘discrimination’ and/or ‘retaliation’). Probably a lawsuit waiting, especially in a highly regulated industry like aviation, and also with a company (UA) that has union contracts and representation.
Yeah but but but they drag dead people out of burning airplanes……or whatever they claim. They should be physically and mentally fit and if they’re not then fire them. They can’t have it both ways. Guess all the fatties are on notice.
@CHRIS — That’s not what the crews are trained to do… at all. If a victim is already dead, then that’s a ‘recovery’ team issue (after the fire fighters extinguish the flames). FA’s priority is to ensure the rapid and safe evacuation of living passengers, according to the NTSB flight attendant manual (and according to actual common sense). After all that, then you can have your PDB.
They are Waitress in the air what does it matter that they are sick and can non help someone get off a plane safe. Can not have it both ways
FMLA does not cover time off for Routine medical care such as check ups or to care for pets.
@tomri — No PDB for you!
@1990: But if an employee may be unable to meet safety requirements of their position, in that they could cause harm to themself or others (is someone who needs a handicap parking position because a doctor says they can’t walk more than 150 feet at a spell going to be able to evacuate a plane?), they can move them to another position. The Dept of Labor even addresses this directly related to airline flight crews. As long as they don’t make them work somewhere that significantly increases commute time or distance and protects pay, they do NOT have to be returned to flight crew position either after a full or a block of intermittent leave.
There is nothing at all in the information selectively quoted by JonNYC’s source that says the person will be terminated. They may not be a flight attendant if they can’t meet the requirements of the position. FMLA also supersedes CBAs and other employment contracts. There is not a violation here.
@NedsKid — That’s a red herring. Fit to fly (even for passengers) is a different issue and case by case determination.
The issue at hand, discrimination and retaliation, especially using medical info, remains a no-no for any industry.
Workers have rights and deserve even better protections against such abuses of power.
Maybe someone should sit Kirby down and explain the concept of morale to him. He’s a vicious weasel who’s utter without scruples but he’s not actually stupid. If he wants to live up to being even a shadow of his ridiculous claim of being the best airline in history then perhaps he should stop harassing the people that passengers interact with the most.