Airline Enforcing Non-Competes for Increasingly Desperate Captains, FOs Seeking Accommodation

One captain for United Airlines is decrying her treatment at the company's hands, saying her placement on unpaid leave for insisting on remaining unvaccinated against Covid-19 has left her unable to move onward with her career.

Sherry Walker says that she can't find another job while cut off from the ability to earn an income, and United has blocked her retirement fund access, preventing her from being able to weather the leave until the issue shakes out in court. 

The founder of Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom, a 501C3 nonprofit supporting employee freedom of choice, told reporters "I am out on unpaid leave. I am prohibited from getting another job. I'm prohibited from accessing my 401(k). I have no medical benefits, and I'm leading the charge in this fight, so my days are consumed, she said at a protest against legal requirements for medication usage. She said her status as an active employee remains, despite not being allowed to work since November of 2021. The status effectively holds her and other pilots in limbo, still technically employed, thus unable to access aid, relief, or assistance.

"That means that they can call us back with two weeks' notice at any given time, they can just grab us and pull us back. But because we're active, we haven't had a qualified lifestyle change. So Schwab, which owns our 401(k) accounts, refuses to let anyone access them," Walker said. Additionally, the company has reportedly aggressively pursued employees who signed non-compete agreements but have turned to other work while barred from work. "In this case, they have said that no, no outside employment. In fact, you must go through ethics and compliance, and it can't be a company that we could have … a non-compete with." 

Walker said her interest in jumping ship to another carrier remains unattractive for many in her shoes, as it would throw away the hard-earned seniority that only time can build up from zero, time which many captain's careers can't spare. "You start over at the bottom. I can't be a captain at any other airline in this country. I go back from my six-figure salary, back down to starting probationary pay … pulling gear for some captain," she said. Of course, United has a wonderful solution to pilots like her, saying such pilots are free to apply internally for non customer-facing roles within the company for which Comirnaty and its competitors are not a condition of work. United said employees could effectively beg for work in jobs like remote customer service, then, after the court battle is resolved, return to their pilot jobs. Such options remain unpopular for highly experienced, highly demanded pilots who are quite literally at the top of their field as ATP-rated pilots with the necessary type ratings. 

FMI: www.ae4hf.org