Alaska Airlines agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving 163 pilots who lost vacation time after military leave. The lawsuit alleged that this violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
What happened?
In Dec. 2018, Plaintiff Leo Synoracki, a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel and former Alaska Airlines pilot, filed a lawsuit alleging a USERRA violation in which military leave must not be treated less favourably than comparable forms of civilian leave, such as jury duty.
Alaska Airlines’ records identified 163 current and former pilots who served in the U.S. military reserves and took military leave for 31–60 consecutive days between Oct. 10, 2004 and March 31, 2026, without accumulating vacation time.
Alaska Airlines denies violating USERRA, but agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement fee. The agreement includes up to $247,500 in attorney fees and expenses, and a potential service award of up to $5,000 for Synoracki.
Division of the settlement
The $500,000 settlement fund will be divided among the 163 pilots after deducting attorney fees and expenses, administration costs, taxes, and Synoracki’s potential service award. Payments will not be divided equally. The pilots will receive payments based on the months of lost vacation accrual. A pilot with more qualifying non-accrual months will receive a larger share of the total settlement fund.
Alaska Airlines’ records identified 666 non-accrual months across the 163 class members.
The settlement website states that no claim form is required and payments will be calculated using Alaska Airlines’ records.
What are your thoughts on the class-action lawsuit against Alaska Airlines? Do you think it’s been reasonably settled? Let us know in the comments.
