Currently, Maternity Pay Terminates For Pilots Six To Eight Weeks After Delivery

As Mother’s Day approached, Delta’s 13,700 pilots have protested the airline’s lack of effective accommodations, guidance, and support for new pilot mothers.

Currently, maternity pay terminates for pilots six to eight weeks after delivery. Should a pilot need to stay home with her newborn beyond this time, she must go on unpaid leave and incur a substantial increase in health insurance premiums as a nonactive employee. Depending upon the pilot’s health plan, premiums can increase by as much as $2,200 a month.

“Delta prides itself on treating its employees like family, yet forces a new mother to make the life-changing decision of staying home with her newborn without pay or going to work to provide for her family and have affordable health-care premiums,” said Delta Master Executive Council (MEC) chairman Capt. Jason Ambrosi.

“The majority of Delta’s female pilots are the primary wage earners in their family,” said F/O Alison Britton, chair of the union’s Pilot Family Matters Committee. “For women looking for a long-term career in such a competitive job market, this inadequate maternity benefit could be a dealbreaker.”

Less than six percent of Delta’s pilots are female.

“As a new mom and primary breadwinner in my family, I had to return to work and be separated from my newborn for days at a time. It was also challenging to try to find ways to pump breast milk in between flights and on layovers,” said Britton. “Delta management wants to hire female pilots, but must improve their maternity benefits—which severely lag relative to other Fortune 500 companies of similar size.”

Delta pilots are currently in negotiations with the Company seeking improvements to many areas in their contract, including maternity benefits.

FMI: www.alpa.org