A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by American Airlines pilots over the carrier's failure to pay them for short-term military leave. In a 3-0 decision, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said a reasonable jury could find short-term military leave comparable to jury duty leave or bereavement leave, for both of which American pays pilots. The court revived a class action by pilots who took short-term military leave, defined as 16 or fewer days, from January 2013 to October 2021. During that period, the leaves averaged 3.3 days, while jury duty and bereavement leaves averaged 1.8 days and 2.7 days respectively. But pilots took short-term military leave more often, averaging about 22 days annually, compared with about two days of jury duty leave and three days of bereavement leave. Without ruling on the merits, Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman said the leaves had similar lengths, and pilots had little or no control over when to take them. She also said jurors could find that military leave and jury duty leave shared a common purpose: civic duty. Pilots sued under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 which gives employees on military leave a right to the same benefits as other employees. The pilots were led by James Scanlan, a retired major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and Carla Riner, a brigadier general in the Delaware Air National Guard.<br/>American declined to comment.<br/>
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President Joe Biden’s administration is pressing negotiators to reach agreements on new contracts for flight attendants and airline caterers, hoping to give a boost to union allies without setting off a summer of labor strife that could have dire consequences for his reelection hopes. The National Mediation Board, which oversees labor relations and contract talks between airlines and unions, last week summoned representatives from American Airlines Group Inc. and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants to Washington for days of intensive mediation on a new contract for the union’s 27,000 members. The NMB has urged both sides to wrap up a deal by the end of May, according to people familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. The parties have already been in mediation seeking a new deal for more than a year. The board has issued an unusual ultimatum to American and to Gate Gourmet, a major airline caterer that is negotiating with its own union workers, one person briefed on the discussions said. NMB has specifically warned the companies that they could be released from mediation if the two sides don’t come to a deal around the beginning of June, the person said. Releasing the parties from mediation would trigger a 30-day “cooling off” period under federal law, after which the airline and catering workers would be permitted to strike if no agreement has been reached in the interim. Until that happens, the employees are barred from walking off the job under the terms of the Railway Labor Act, which governs union relations in the air travel industry as well. By raising the prospect of releasing them from mediation, NMB is making the path to a strike clearer. The administration is counting on the idea that the pressure will make the companies settle to avoid the stoppage. But if the gambit fails, labor unrest could trigger a massive disruption in the US air travel system just in time for summer and ahead of the final sprint for Biden’s reelection campaign.<br/>