Citing concern for the safety of customers and employees who Flight Attendants are around every day, United has advised those employees who have been granted a Reasonable Accommodation for religious or medical reasons that they will be placed on a temporary personal or medical leave of absence as part of the reasonable accommodation process according to the following schedule:
These employees will be placed on a personal or medical leave of absence starting November 16, 2021 subject to the provisions of your Collective Bargaining Agreement.
On November 12, 2021, United will remove trips departing on or after November 16, 2021 from your Master Schedule.
If you have a trip that departs prior to November 16, 2021 and extends onto or past November 16, 2021, you may continue to work that trip and you will be placed on leave once that trip is completed.
Flight Attendants will remain in this temporary leave status until able to safely return to work in your current Flight Attendant position, as outlined below. Please visit Help Hub for additional information on medical leaves of absence if you have a Medical RAP and personal leaves of absence if you have a Religious RAP.
This accommodation will extend until it is safe for you to return to your current position. As noted in a corporate communication dated October 25, United will use the U.S. community transmission rate published daily by the CDC as well as nationwide daily case counts when making the determination on when it is safe for accommodated employees to return to their regular job.
Alternative Accommodations
As an alternative to a leave of absence, employees are eligible to apply for and secure a non-customer facing job. As part of your approved RAP status, United will provide preferred consideration for open non-customer facing roles, including but not limited to: Ramp Service, Storekeeper, Technician, Reservations Sales and Services Representative and some Management and Administrative positions.
United encourages employees to apply for these open positions, and also provides the opportunity to subscribe to automated updates about job availability within certain functional areas and/or locations.
If interested, employees must use the following link to ensure they are identified as an internal RAP candidate with preferential rights to the job:
https://ft.ual.com/employee-services/careeropportunities/availableopportunities
It is important to understand, if you meet the minimum requirements for the role, you will be placed in that role and required to follow the safety protocols for non-customer facing roles, including masking and twice weekly testing.
To initiate this alternative accommodation process, you need to use the above link to identify a position and indicate that you meet the minimum qualifications. Someone from Talent Acquisition will then reach out to you and assist with next steps. You will be expected to complete all requirements for the job including any assessments and training. If you move into a non-customer facing role, you will be subject to the terms and conditions of employment for that job, including the relevant pay and benefits. More information regarding pay and benefits can be found within each job posting.
The onboarding process for a non-customer facing role can take some time due to, among other things, the regulatory constraints imposed by the clearance process for many of these roles. Given this potential delay, you will remain in your applicable leave of absence status until the transition process to any non-customer facing job is complete.
If you transfer to a non-customer facing job, depending upon the position to which you transfer as well as the reason for the transfer, you may have rights to return to your current Flight Attendant position pursuant to your Collective Bargaining Agreement when the pandemic metrics are met for your current work area and/or work location.
Should you be interested in any of these opportunities, we strongly recommend that you contact your Local Council to discuss any potential impact to your seniority and your ability to return to the Flight Attendant position before you start the transfer process.