Ex-United Employees Allege Airline Wrongfully Blocked Them from 2021 ‘Voluntary Separation’ Leave Program

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Six former longtime United employees allege in a proposed class action that the airline has wrongfully prevented certain eligible retirees from participating in a “voluntary separation” leave (VSL) program offered amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The 23-page first amended complaint claims that certain former United employees who opted for early retirement under a 2017 policy were wrongfully deemed ineligible to participate in the VSL program, which the airline first announced on January 21, 2021. The VSL program was offered to United workers who were at least 45 years old and had at least 15 years of service with the airline, the case says. 

According to the suit, the airline, in order to encourage longtime employees to retire, had promised under the 2017 retirement policy that retirees would be guaranteed participation in any “early out” program offered within 36 months of retirement. On October 30, 2020, United supposedly backtracked on this guarantee and announced that it would sunset the 2017 retirement policy as a result of pandemic-related “uncertainty” in the airline industry, the lawsuit says. 

The case alleges that United’s nearly simultaneous termination of the 2017 policy, which ended on January 1, 2021, and creation of a new early out program, which it called a “voluntary separation” leave program, purposefully omitted retired employees who had left their jobs within 36 months prior to the creation of the new program. The complaint argues that the benefits offered through the recent VSL program “fall[] squarely within the early out policy established by Untied Airlines in 2017,” despite the company’s apparent attempts to “avoid the policy obligation to retirees by renaming it.” 

Per the lawsuit, United claimed in a question-and-answer session about the VSL program that it was not an early out, but instead a financial incentive program that provided cash upon separation and certain paid leave, medical and travel benefits that were excluded from the 2017 policy. 

The plaintiffs allege United has run afoul of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to provide proposed class members, defined below, with notice about the newer VSL program and access to apply for the benefits available thereunder. 

The suit looks to represent all United employees who retired from the airline within the 36 months prior to January 21, 2021 and who were at least 45 years old with at least 15 years of service at the time of retirement. 

The proposed class action was initially filed on December 6, 2021 in California’s Central District Court and an amended complaint was filed on March 2, 2022. The case was transferred from California’s Central District to the Northern District of Illinois on March 11. 

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