Judge grants class certification in Southwest FMLA lawsuit

Southwest FMLA class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: A California federal judge granted class certification to a Southwest Airlines class action lawsuit.
• Why: Selina Cashin and Roreste Refuerzo, current and former Southwest flight attendants, respectively, claim the airline unlawfully penalized flight attendants who took family or medical leave.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

Southwest Airlines unlawfully penalized flight attendants who exercised their family and medical leave, a class action lawsuit filed in 2022 alleges. 

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted class certification to the lawsuit, filed on behalf of thousands of workers, earlier this month. 

The judge certified two nationwide classes and two California subclasses of Southwest flight attendants going back to March 2019, when the airline allegedly instituted a policy that punished them for taking family and medical leave. 

The flight attendants argue workers who took family and medical leave were disqualified from record-improvement mechanisms, which reward good attendance. 

The classes include flight attendants who lost access to disciplinary points reduction after taking Family and Medical Leave Act benefits and flight attendants who lost access to disciplinary points reduction and “subsequently terminated for an accumulation of disciplinary points,” according to the class certification.

Southwest unsuccessful in opposition of class certification

Southwest unsuccessfully opposed class certification in July, at which time the airline argued the Railway Labor Act preempted the flight attendants’ claims. 

The class action lawsuit, meanwhile, argues Southwest infringed on the flight attendants’ rights under the FMLA as they lost the ability to get point deductions they would otherwise be entitled to.

“Under the policy, a flight attendant who would otherwise be entitled to a reduction in disciplinary points is not given the reduction if she took medical or family leave,” the Southwest class action says. 

In other news involving Southwest, the U.S Department of Transportation fined the airline $140 million in December 2023 after it canceled 16,900 flights and stranded more than 2 million passengers during the 2022 holiday season. 

Have you been penalized for taking family or medical leave ? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jason M. Erlich of Erlich Law Firm and Jennie Lee Anderson of Andrus Anderson LLP.

The Southwest FMLA class action lawsuit is Refuerzo, et al. v. Southwest Airlines Co., Case No. 3:22-cv-00868, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Southwest class action claims airline discriminated against workers who sought COVID vaccine exemptions
• Southwest fined $140M over 2022 holiday flight cancellations
• Southwest faces possible Dept. of Transportation fine over flight cancellations
• Judge denies class certification in Southwest Airlines COVID-19 cancellations case