Judge grants initial approval to $16M Delta wage settlement

Update:

• A California federal judge gave the green light to a $16 million settlement between Delta and some of its flight attendants, who accused the airline of wage theft.
• On July 16, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick preliminarily approved the settlement, which comes almost ten years after the class action lawsuit was filed in 2015.
• The wage lawsuit challenged Delta’s pay practices and asserted claims for California Labor Code and Private Attorneys General Act penalties and wage statement penalties.
• The settlement is set to cover a class of California-based flight attendants who worked for Delta between Jan. 9, 2014, and March 31, 2024, who did not participate in the airline’s enhanced retirement or voluntary opt-out programs. 

Delta wage lawsuit settlement overview:

• Who: Delta Air Lines Inc. will pay nearly $16 million to settle a wage lawsuit.
• Why: The settlement will resolve a 2015 lawsuit filed by Delta flight attendants who challenged the airline’s pay practices.
• Where: The Delta wage lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

(May 24, 2024)

Delta Air Lines Inc. recently agreed to pay $15.9 million to settle a flight attendant wage lawsuit, Law360 reports.

Plaintiffs Dev Anand Oman, Todd Eichmann, Michael Lehr and Albert Flores urged a California federal judge to approve the proposed Delta flight attendants settlement in a motion filed May 15, which would resolve a wage lawsuit launched nearly a decade ago.

The proposed Delta settlement would provide an “extremely favorable” outcome for the approximately 4,185 eligible class members, the plaintiffs said.

Delta settlement class members are defined as all current and former Delta flight attendants who were based in California at any time from Jan. 9, 2014, through March 31, 2024, and did not participate in Delta’s enhanced retirement or voluntary opt-out programs.

Delta wage lawsuit sought PAGA and wage statement penalties

The wage lawsuit challenged Delta’s pay practices and asserted claims for California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) penalties and wage statement penalties.

If approved, the Delta settlement would pay class members 100% of their potential wage statement penalties prior to the airline’s revisions to its wage statements in 2022, and 25% of their potential penalties after the airline revised the wage statements, up to a maximum payment of $4,000.

PAGA penalties will also be distributed to class members and eligible flight attendants who do not fall within the class definition, the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of the Delta settlement says.

The Delta settlement is the result of nearly a decade of hard-fought litigation. In 2017, the airline was granted summary judgment on its argument Delta flight attendants spend most of their time in federal airspace, rendering the majority of state law claims irrelevant.

The Delta flight attendants appealed the summary judgment ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the issue to California’s Supreme Court. The state’s highest court determined California wage protections applied to Delta flight attendants whose home base was in California. 

Last year, Delta was hit with a wage lawsuit alleging the airline failed to pay overtime to employees who work extra time after swapping shifts with colleagues.

What do you think about the Delta flight attendants settlement? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Matthew C. Helland and Daniel S. Brome of Nichols Kaster LLP.

The Delta wage lawsuit is Dev Anand Oman, et al. v. Delta Air Lines Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-00131-WHO, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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