Ninth Circuit Revives USERRA Paid Leave Class Action

September 11, 2024

On August 22, 2024, in Synoracki v. Alaska Airlines, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit) ruled that a class action lawsuit brought by pilots seeking additional benefit accruals during periods of military leave must be reconsidered in light of its recent decision in Clarkson v. Alaska Airlines, Inc, which involved similar allegations. The Ninth Circuit vacated in part the district court’s prior grant of summary judgment for the airline and remanded the case for reevaluation.

In this case, the plaintiffs, a group of Alaska Airlines pilots, sued their employer under USERRA for failing to provide paid sick leave and vacation accruals during periods of military leave. As background, USERRA applies to all employers regardless of size and prohibits employers from discriminating and retaliating against employees or applicants because of their military status or military obligations. Further, and of significance here, USERRA requires employers to provide employees on military leave with the same rights and benefits provided to other employees on comparable non-military related leaves of absence. Specifically, the plaintiff’s complaint alleged that employees who take paid sick leave and jury duty leave (i.e., non-military leaves of absence) are afforded the benefit of paid sick time accrual and vacation time accrual; therefore, Alaska Airlines pilots on military leave should also have been given the same benefits under USERRA.

The Washington district court granted the airline’s motion for summary judgment, holding the pilots’ military leave was not comparable to other paid short-term leave. However, the district court ruling was issued prior to the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Clarkson, which held that when assessing USERRA violations, an examination of the length of the specific military leave at issue, rather than a categorical, “one-size-fits-all" approach to military leave, is the correct approach when assessing leave comparability.

The federal courts of appeal that have addressed short-term paid military leave under USERRA have consistently ruled in favor of employees in active military service. (See Scanlan, et al. v. American Airlines and Myrick v. City of Hoover.) For employers, these recent USERRA short-term paid military leave decisions highlight the importance of reviewing military leave and administration policies, including with respect to the comparability of military leave in relation to non-military leaves such as paid sick leave, jury duty, bereavement, and vacation. Given the increased litigation in this area, employers should also monitor for further developments that may impact their USERRA leave administration.

Synoracki v. Alaska Airlines