An arbitration board has sided with United Airlines and will allow the carrier to punish flight attendants who call in sick less than eight hours before their duty time with multiple forms of discipline. While that policy comes with practical downsides, it is the policy that flight attendants agreed to in their collective bargaining agreement.
Mediation Board Rules Against United Airlines Flight Attendants, Allows United To Punish Those Who Call In Sick Too Late
The AFA-CWA, the union representing flight attendants at United Airlines, informed their members that the System Board of Adjustment, an arbitration panel, ruled in favor of United in a grievance brought by the union.
The union was upset that flight attendants could be punished with both a performance warning (a negative remark placed on a flight attendant’s permanent record that could be used as grounds for termination) and attendance points (accumulating too many attendance points in a year could also result in discipline or termination) for the same violation: calling off duty less than eight hours before the flight.
I too would have also voted with the (unanimous) majority on the board.
That’s because the contract does not prohibit this.
When a Flight Attendant is unable to take her/his flight, she/he will notify the Company’s designated crew desk in not less than eight (8) hours, except in an emergency, before the flight is scheduled to depart, and will in any event give as much notice as possible.
The arbitration board was not concerned about the “double” punishment. As the AFA conceded, “This was because there are other situations when a Flight Attendant may receive both attendance and performance discipline for the same event.”
What situations? Sick leave abuse.
While I personally think it is rather foolish to ask flight attendants to come in when sick or face discipline, maybe their unions will do a better job of negotiating next time…instead of fighting not to enforce language, they agreed to in the first place.
It’s really sad that so many flight attendants at United abused sick leave (more recently, calling in sick on weekends or holidays), a separate issue that forced United to take a more aggressive stand in requiring doctor’s notes. The “this is why we can’t have nice things” attendance policy applies here…United was not wrong to push back against a 23% uptick in sick calls last summer that occurred only on weekends.
Responding to the abuse of those calling in sick with accountability mechanisms also outlined in the contract is fair game.
The union recommends flight attendants call in sick early:
We recommend that if you are sick, you provide the Company with notice and call on sick as soon as you know you are too sick to work. This provides schedule integrity and provides other Flight Attendants the ability to pick up the pairing or ample time for the sick leave pairing to be assigned to a Reserve.
And while it may be aggravating to use a sick day when you end up feeling just fine as the shift approaches, this way gives United more time to find a replacement. A day to rest is not always bad, even if your body could have handled the work.
CONCLUSION
I don’t personally support United’s strict sick policy (as View From The Wing noted, a requirement to call out farther in advance seems like it would lead to greater absenteeism), but I understand why United has implemented it. I also understand why the AFA fought against it, but it was a weak argument that was properly overruled when the contract clearly allows for this kind of “dual” discipline with sick leave abuse.
My takeaway is that if employees were most honest about being sick, none of this would be necessary.
> Read More: United Airlines Declares Victory In Campaign To Reduce Sick Leave Abuse By Flight Attendant
What if the FA is in the emergency room ?
What if the FA had a fall and broke a limb ?
This is an example of how Kirby is a moron .
There is a clause for an emergency event being excused.
Likely the company will not take the employee’s word , unless evidence is submitted . Which can be a burden on an employee if he does not have family assistance at hand . Likely the company will not assume one’s honourable information .
In the military the service will accept your word on it’s face , and assume you have honour . (Unless shown otherwise)
It’s so easy to blame Kirby instead of your fellow flight attendants who continually abuse the sick policy forcing United’s hand in this matter. When you interviewed for the job you agreed to work weekends and holidays now that you have the job you want weekends and holidays off. This isn’t on Kirby its on FA’s if you don’t want to do the job, if you don’t want to work on weekends and holidays quit, its really that simple.
Agreed.
Company distrust of it’s employees is certainly on Kirby and management .
If one had employees , and one distrusted their honesty , one’s distrust would certainly be on one .
I’ve perhaps called in “sick” when I wasn’t really only about 2 days in my entire life, and it was hardly abusive (I had weeks of use-or-lose sick leave unclaimed.)
I’m thinking of discussions I’ve read about “low trust” versus “high trust” societies where you can leave your skis on in a resort, unlocked, and get a cup of coffee and they’ll still be there or the INSANE baby carriages left out in Denmark while the parents drink coffee. The high-trust relationship is so fragile and also invaluable.
That said, there are discussions about an “8 hour notice” whether that makes sense or not. If you feel a cold coming on, perhaps call it in. FA’s are notoriously exposed to germs during their duties so I expect they probably are sick more than the general population. I believe they are not allowed to take over-the-counter medication to mask their symptoms?
@porschwit … How did you arrive at your assumption that “… fellow flight attendants who continually abuse the sick policy …” ?
That is an unproven assumption , made without evidence .
The company owes it to it’s employees to trust in their honour , and not assume malfeasance .
So it’s pure coincidence that sick calls skyrocket on weekends and holidays? The reason United did the crack down on the sick policy is because they were seeing a 23% uptick in sick calls only on the weekends. So I’m supposed to believe flight attendants only get sick Friday, Saturday, and Sunday then are miraculously healed when monday comes around. United has what 30,000 or so flight attendants a 23% increase in the number of FA’s calling out sick means 6,900 additional FA’s are calling out sick every weekend. This isn’t an assumption this isn’t made up the reason we’re at this point is because the AFA went to the arbitration panel to get them to stop United from enforcing a policy they already agree to.
I’m not anti-union and I’m not pro-union, my opinion is still the same when you interviewed for the job you said enthusiastically yes I will work weekends and holidays. As you well know the airline industry is a seniority based system. If you don’t have the seniority to hold weekends and holidays off you don’t get to use and abuse the sick policy because you want this weekend off to go hand out and nobody picked up your trip off the swap board. You want weekends off then earn the right to be off every weekend and holiday. Unfortunately the only way one earns the right to be off on weekends and holidays in the airline industry is through seniority. You need to have the seniority to either hold the weekends off or you need the seniority to hold highly desirable trips where you know the trip will drop within moments of being placed on the swap board. Having 6,900 additional FA’s call out sick is unacceptable and any company would be forced to respond.
This is silly. How often do you go to bed, perhaps you feel slightly off but think nothing of it. It’s only when you wake up the next morning do you truly realize you’re sick. Will that give you 8 hours notice – maybe / maybe not. Sure document and go after the ones who abuse sick, but punish an entire work group? I wonder if other airlines have the same issue and if so how do they handle it.
To quote Larry David “Where’s the leeway?”
If this is going to be a policy, then there must be some leeway given in exchange where the FAs get a couple more sick days off. It’s so that when they start feeling sick, they can use the sick days and avoid having to call in way too late from the start. But that still doesn’t cover emergencies as no one can predict when an emergency event will happen.
If by some chance a FA recovers from a migraine, or whatever, within the eight hour window, there should be an option to not be charged for the sick day. Eight hours can make a huge difference.
Honesty is the key here. Unfortunately, this is a clear case where the good ones will pay for the bad ones. Agree with the posts above where someone can simply go to bed feeling great and wake up feeling like crap but also there are the ones that wake up and do not feel like leaving the bed because it is too cozy and than call in “sick”.
@Santastico … And there will be an FA on a layover in LHR , who roll out of bed for the return , fall on the floor , and break one’s arm .
( I’ve done it myself , and it wasn’t alcohol ; it was unfamiliarity , )
Necessitated a trip to the clinic for x-rays and immobilization .
I am not disagreeing with you at all but the lack of honesty from the bad apples will affect the good ones. It is usually how things work, when someone takes advantage of a situation, everyone loses.
@Santastico … You are correct in your prediction .
Yet , a personnel officer ought never prejudge cases based on “other bad apples” of the past . Each person is a new situation , and sympathy and understanding ought to be forthcoming to all .
If Kirby called in , he would be given the benefit of doubt . He ought to extend the same benefit of doubt to each of his employees . If he does not do so , then Kirby himself ought to be terminated by the board of directors .
Kirby isn’t under a union contract with a specified attendance program. He also could be fired for one absence by the board… and has much less job security than the average flight attendant.
Unions under contract like everyone treated the same (well, or in my experience behind closed doors they’ll sell people out on behalf of others – “you can have these 3 terminations uncontested if you bring our shop steward back”).
United is doing everything but give their flight attendants a new contract. Meanwhile Southwest, Delta, American and soon Alaska all pay higher. It’s not a good look
The federal mediator overseeing contract negotiations broke off mediation sessions because even he thought what the flight attendants wanted was ridiculous.
Most of the rest of the front-line hourly world where the ability to operate is dependent on how many people show up to work operates in the same way. Calling out with short notice is more points. Plus, as Matthew pointed out, the contract allows this.
People like to fall back on the “I’ll get fired for having a migraine and calling out.” No, you won’t. You’ll get fired because you’ve done the same thing 10 times in the last year. In which case you clearly have an ongoing medical condition and should seek treatment and there are programs with federal protection like FMLA or other medical leaves for those sort of things – which are non-punitive!
I used to go through this all the time with union front liners… with a point-based “no fault” attendance program. No, I’m not firing you for your kid being sick. I’m firing you because in the last 9 months you were non-revving and didn’t make it back to work on time twice, overslept 3 times, left early because your supervisor wanted you to work in the rain once, and called out once because “I’m tired/hung over.” If you hadn’t done all of that – this sick call would not impact you in the least! People want to focus on the last event but it never is just that. You don’t reach the max number of points innocently 95% of the time.
Yes, there are exceptions like with anything where there are some situations that don’t fall within FMLA (or it runs out) or bad things happen more frequently than one would ever dream of… but in such situations there is either usually some level of flexibility (or when I managed a non-union environment I had leeway in excusing situations – whereas the union was adamant everyone treated the same so no exceptions to the policy). Or sadly to say maybe it’s just not the job that’s the best fit for you and your situation.
People traveling to visit dying loved ones or help sick family or fly to MD Anderson for cancer treatment depend on the people of the airline reliably showing up to work.
@Neds … Excellent analysis .
If a critical safety professional such as a crew member is not 100% physically and mentally fit to perform their duties, they should be permitted to call out sick with no question and no fault.
The airline is simply trying to be punitive to save on the cost of additional standby crew needed. This action compromises safety of all passengers by encouraging crew to choose to fly while not 100% fit. The FAA should be investigating this serious safety violation and not some union arbitrator.
@Sean … Excellent point .
The basic issue is too many FAs lack ethics and professionalism that they lie when not sick. Part of professionalism is to do an excellent job when nobody is watching
Bingo.
@derek … How did you arrive at your assumption that “… too many FAs lack ethics and professionalism that they lie when not sick” ?
That is an unproven assumption , made without evidence .
The company owes it to it’s employees to trust in their honour , and not assume malfeasance .
This is about keeping the radical flight attendants’ union from creating CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System) because even the federal mediator overseeing their contract negotiations thought what they wanted was ridiculous and broke off mediation.
Really?? This is the second time you spouted with gobbledegook!! What SPECIFICALLY is so outrageous?? I’m waiting.
Why don’t they let them get released? Then they could fire everyone and start with all youngsters making very little.
Haven’t the cogs in the machine yet realised that they are only there to generate obscene levels of profit for shareholders and huge bonuses for management? Anything they do to impede that will be punished. This is the US run by Criminal Trump, Nazi Musk and the rest of the cabal.
Is buyer’s regret kicking in yet? You only have three years and three hundred and fifty eight more days of it to endure. Maybe you’ll survive, maybe you won’t.