• • • Effective October 2nd, employees approved for a religious accommodation will be placed on unpaid personal leave, and employees approved for a medical accommodation will begin using their sick leave bank and then transition to EIS.

    • Employees on personal leave (i.e., with a religious accommodation) face the additional hardships that medical coverage does not continue during personal leave, and seniority will cease accruing after three months. 
    • The details of the conditions United is imposing on each group can be found on United’s HelpHub.

For those in customer-facing roles (Customer Service Representative), United has said that this involuntary leave will continue until the “the pandemic meaningfully recedes”, which essentially leaves it indefinite at this point. For non-customer facing roles (including Fleet Service and Storekeepers) this involuntary leave will continue until safety protocols are put in place and non-vaccinated employees are recalled; no date has been set for that return, although United promises an update by mid-October.

Being placed on what essentially amounts to indefinite unpaid leave is not really an accommodation at all and is likely not what anyone thought they were signing up for when they first applied for an accommodation. We have explored the legal options available to challenge this compelled unpaid leave and we want you to know the following.

If you wish to challenge the so-called accommodation which United has imposed (i.e., open-ended unpaid leave), you have the individual right to file a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). There are no fees or costs for filing an EEOC charge and hiring an attorney is not required. Filing an EEOC charge is a right available to each individual employee and the initial steps can be accomplished online. If you decide to file a Charge, here is what you will need to know and can expect:

• • • • The deadline for filing an EEOC charge is generally 300 days but is only 180 days in some states,  so if you decide to file, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible.  
      • Filing will require you to register an account with the EEOC’s website and provide an email address and other personal information. Do not use your United Airlines email address.  
      • The Charge is filed once the needed sections of the form are complete and you have signed and dated it. Make sure you receive and save a confirmation notice that it is filed and are assigned a  case number.  
      • The EEOC will notify United that you have filed a charge against it. The EEOC process is not  anonymous. However, federal law forbids United from retaliating against you for filing a Charge. 
      • After you have filed, an EEOC investigator will likely contact you for further information and may request to conduct an interview or request additional documents from you. You should cooperate with the EEOC investigator in a timely manner if you wish your case to be continued. You can request a  withdrawal at any time. 
      • Be advised, EEOC investigations often take many months and just because several weeks may
        pass without communication with the EEOC does not mean your case has been closed or denied. 

Instructions on the Charge filing process can be found at the following link:  

https://www.eeoc.gov/how-file-charge-employment-discrimination 

Charges can be filed online using the EEOC’s Public Portal: 

https://publicportal.eeoc.gov/Portal/Login.aspx 

The District Lodge will continue in its effort under the collective bargaining agreement and Railway Labor  Act to obtain fair and safe working conditions for all of our members and will keep you updated on those efforts.  

Sincerely,  

Michael G Klemm 
President/Directing General Chairman 
IAM District Lodge 141

Recording Secretaries: Please print and post on all IAMAW bulletin boards.