James Scanlan v. American Airlines

James Scanlan, a pilot for American Airlines and also a Major General in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, filed suit on behalf of himself and his fellow military reserve pilots for American Airlines alleging that the company violated USERRA’s employee benefit statute, 38 USC 4316, by not paying military reservists their wages for short term leave but by paying other similarly situated employees their wages for shot term sick leave and jury duty leave and by not crediting their military leave for the purposes of determining profit sharing benefits. A copy of the complaint is available here.

The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the place where Mr. Scanlan works. American, which is headquartered in Texas, tried to move the case from Pennsylvania to Texas shortly after Mr. Scanlan filed suit. The Court denied American’s motion. A copy of that order is available here.

American sought to dismiss the entirety of Mr. Scanlan’s complaint. The Court denied the majority of American’ motion. A copy of that order is available here.

American then sought dismissal of Mr. Scanlan’s amended complaint alleging that American breached its profit sharing plan by not crediting military service when calculating profit sharing awards for American Airlines pilots. The Court denied that motion. A copy of the Court’s order is available here.