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.