$4.75M Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air Settlement Resolves Lawsuit Over Alleged Military Leave Compensation Violations

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A $4.75 million settlement has been reached to resolve a proposed class action lawsuit that claimed Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Industries unlawfully failed to provide pilots with paid short-term military leave despite paying for other comparable forms of leave.

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The official website for the Alaska Airlines and Horizon class action settlement can be found at AlaskaMilitaryPaidLeave.com.

According to the settlement agreement, the $4,750,000 deal covers current and former Alaska Airlines or Horizon pilots who have taken short-term military leave—periods of 30 days or fewer—from October 10, 2004 to May 31, 2023.

The settlement notice says the deal covers approximately 600 people, with another 630 individuals—Horizon pilots between 2004 and 2008—also potentially qualifying as class members.

Per the document, class members who received notice by mail or email that included an individualized estimate of their settlement payout do not need to do anything to receive benefits from the deal.

However, the document states that those whose notices did not include a payout estimate have been identified as Horizon pilots between 2004 and 2008 who may or may not be class members. Horizon pilots who took short-term military leave between October 10, 2004 and October 2, 2008 must submit a valid claim form to receive credit for that leave when calculating individual payout amounts, the settlement notice shares.

These class members must return the claim form enclosed in their notice to the settlement administrator, postmarked on or before December 20, 2024.

As part of the deal with Alaska Airlines and Horizon, eligible class members may receive a pro-rated cash payment pursuant to a court-approved plan of allocation, the settlement agreement relays. According to the plan, settlement payments will be based on the amount of compensation that a class member would have earned from the defendants during periods of short-term military leave, among other leave and pay data provided by the companies.

In addition, Alaska Airlines and Horizon have agreed to supply class members with up to four days per calendar year of paid short-term military leave going forward, the settlement agreement says. Provided that pilots give notice within the required deadline for disclosing absences, each day will be paid at their hourly wage as defined by the applicable collective bargaining agreement, the document adds.

The Alaska Airlines and Horizon settlement was preliminarily approved by the court on September 25, 2024. The parties now await a hearing scheduled for January 15, 2025, at which the court will decide whether to grant final approval to the terms of the deal.

Payouts will be issued to eligible class members only if the deal receives ultimate approval, and after any appeals are resolved, the settlement website explains.

The lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and Horizon alleged that the companies violated the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by paying employees who took sick leave, bereavement leave and other types of leave, but not compensating those who took short-term military leave. According to the class action suit, the USERRA mandates that servicemembers who take leave from work to perform military service be treated “no less favorably” than other workers who take comparable leaves of absence.

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