Sick Leave
Calling Out Sick
All sick calls will have a start and end date. (JCBA Section 9.B.2.) Whenever you call out sick, Crew Scheduling will remove you on a trip-by-trip basis and close your absences based on the end date provided. (JCBA Section 9.D.4.) If you need to extend your absence beyond what was initially requested, you will need to call Crew Scheduling again. Extending your absence will appear as a separate sick occurrence in your HI10M. However, Flight Service will bridge your absence if there is no paid activity between sick calls. Doing so will combine all your sick occurrences into one single sick occurrence.
Lineholder
Calling Out Sick for a Lineholder Trip
You will be able to pick up a trip that reports immediately after the scheduled release time of the original trip (paper legality). While you are out sick, you may use TTS/UBL and ETB for trip(s) that operate outside the footprint of your absences.
Lineholders Calling Out Sick for Training
If you are scheduled to attend training and you call out sick, your training will be removed from your schedule and will revert to a day off. You must contact Crew Scheduling to call out sick for training.
Lineholders With Sick Hours
If you call out sick for a sequence, your sick bank will be charged with trips missed (value of your sequence).
Lineholders Without Sick Hours
If you call out sick for a trip and you do not have enough sick time to cover the entire value of the trip, you will be considered unpaid on the first day that you have zero sick time.
Example
You only have a sick balance of 7.30 and you call out sick for your 3-day trip originating on the 1st. Your sick bank fully covers the 5 hours on day 1, the remaining 2.30 are paid towards day 2, and day 3 of your trip is fully unpaid.Because you are unpaid for all of day 3, you are considered unavailable beginning on day 3.
Lineholder to Reserve Transition
If your carryover sick value from your lineholder month into your reserve month is on reserve days, those hours will be pay and credit (if paid sick) and will count towards your RSV guarantee and RSVCOT (calling out of time). If you call out sick for a carryover sequence from your lineholder month intodays off (GD/FD) on your reserve month, the hours on reserve days will be pay and credit (if paid sick) and will count towards your RSVCOT (calling out of time). The hours on days off will be PNC (pay no credit) and will be paid above guarantee (at this time, the company will pay all hours as pay and credit and, at your request, will move those days off to later in the month. APFA disagrees with this practice).
Reserve
Calling Out Sick for Reserve Duty
You may call out for one reserve day at a time, a block of reserve days, or multiple blocks of reserve days. If you are assigned a trip that is scheduled into one or more flex days and you subsequently call out sick, your sick bank will be charged the value of the sequence, your flex day(s) will remain and you will be restricted from flying over the footprint of the trip. All hours will be pay and credit. In this situation, you may request to move your Flex Day to another date in the contractual month mutually agreed to by Crew Scheduling.
If you are awarded a trip that is scheduled into one or more flex days and you subsequently call out sick, your sick bank will be charged the value of the sequence, your flex day(s) will not be restored, and you will be restricted from flying over the footprint of the trip. All hours will be pay and credit. If you call in sick during your RAP or before your sequence or standby ends, your sick call will begin the same day. If you call in sick after a RAP, sequence, or standby ends, your sick call will begin the next day.
Calling Out Sick for ETB Trip
If you picked up a trip from ETB and call out sick, those hours will be pay no credit (if paid sick) and will not count towards your RSV guarantee and RSVCOT. If you pick up a trip from ETB and call out sick and you have no sick hours available, the sick hours will not reduce your guarantee.
Reserves Calling Out Sick for Training
If you are scheduled to attend training and you call out sick, training will be removed. If it was originally a reserve day it will revert to a RSV day and you are not required to be contactable. If it is originally a reserve day off (FD/GD), it will revert to a day off.
You must contact Crew Scheduling to call out sick for training.
Reserves With Sick Hours
If you have been awarded/assigned a sequence or standby and call out sick(even if your RAP has not yet started and you haven’t yet acknowledged your assignment), your sick bank will be charged the greater of the sequence/standby value or the value of reserve day:
- 4.10 for a 30-day month
- 3.56 for a 31-day month
If you have not been awarded/assigned a sequence and call out sick, your sick bank will be charged the value of a reserve day.
Reserves Without Sick Hours
If you do not have the necessary sick bank to cover the sick time, the hours will be unpaid and will reduce your guarantee by the daily rate for each calendar day of the trip. If you call out sick for reserve days yet you do not have the necessary sick bank to cover the hours, and you would not have been utilized, your guarantee will not be reduced. (Crew comp will make the necessary adjustments at closeout). If your sick bank only has hours to partially cover your absence, your sick bank will be charged and will count towards your RSVCOT (calling out of time). You will be considered unavailable on the first day you have zero sick time.
Reserve to Lineholder Transition
Carryover sick value from your reserve month into your line month will be pay and credit (if paid sick) and the hours reflected in your reserve month will count towards both your RSV guarantee, and RSVCOT (calling out of time), and the hours reflected in your line month will count towards your credited hours (at this time, the company will pay all hours as pay and credit and will move those days off to later in the month. APFA disagrees with this practice).
Calling In Well
Lineholder
You may call in well at any time to pick up a sequence via TTS/UBL on days other than the first day of the sequence you called in sick. If you call out sick for a trip over a weekend or holiday, and you call in well, you will notbe restricted to the same number of weekend days. You will only need to pick up a trip that includes at least a weekend day or a holiday. If you fly company open time (TTS/UBL) as a lineholder you’ll only be charged for the day(s) you were out sick.* You will be charged sick for days of your original trip if no flying occurs, or if you call in sick again for a trip you subsequently picked up.*
* The company has placed additional stipulations and processes to the “crew schedule’s consent” language in the JCBA. APFA disagrees with this policy.
Reserve
You must notify Crew Scheduling prior to 1430 HBT on the day prior to the RSV day to be available for ROTA processing. If you notify Crew Scheduling after 1500 HBT the day prior, Crew Scheduling will not provide consent for the following day but may provide consent for 2 days out. You will be charged sick for the following day and will not be available to the company. You will only be charged for the day(s) you were out sick provided you remain available in ROTA/D. You will be charged sick days when you are not available to the company through ROTA/D. If you call in well, you may pick-up sequences via ETB for a future date.
Sick Accrual
All Flight Attendants accrue 4.5 sick hours per month. You will no longer accrue sick hours, once you have reached 1,500 hours in your sick bank. You must be available* 15 days or more in a contractual month to be eligible to accrue Sick and Vacation. As an exception, if you are available for less than fifteen (15) days in a contractual month and you still reach 40 hours, you must contact the Flight Attendant Service Center (FASC) to accrue sick and vacation within 60 days of returning.
Sick accruals are calculated, added, and available in your sick bank on the 1st day of the contractual month. Within the month, days between 2 or more consecutive unpaid sick absences will be considered as unavailable if there is no paid activity between the absences. Those days are considered unavailable to the company for the purpose of sick and vacation accrual. FOS will "bridge" or "link" between all unpaid sick absences within the month.
If you run out of sick time in the originating month of a carryover trip, then the newly accrued sick in the next month will not apply to any portion of the trip. The newly accrued sick hours will apply to your first sick absence for a trip that originates in the new month. However, if you have enough sick time to apply to the carryover trip at least 1 min into the new month, then the accrued time will apply to the carryover trip.
Example: You have a carryover trip at the end of September, totaling 10 hours of pay. Five (5) hours on September 30th and 5 hours on October 1st. You have at least 5 hours remaining in your sick bank so your newly accrued hours will apply to the 5 hours on October 1.
* For the purposes of accruing sick hours, AVAILABLE is defined as days in which you generate any paid activity. (Vacation, Jury Duty, Sequence, Standby, paid sick, classroom training, etc.)
Understanding 'Available' and 'Unavailable'
Available for Less Than 15 Days & Reached 40 Hours
You were available for 11 days and were paid and credited 45 hours. You called out sick for your trip originating on the 12th and the 29th. Since you have no paid activity between the trips, you are considered unavailable from the 12th through the 30th. However, you are eligible to accrue sick and vacation because you were paid more than 40 hours, even though you were not available 15 days. You must contact the FASC within 60 days to receive the accrual.
Unavailable for 15 or More Days
You called out sick for three trips and you don’t have enough hours in your sick bank available to cover those absences. All three absences will be coded as unpaid (US). Since there is no paid activity between absences from the 9th through the 24th, you were only considered available for 14 days, and you achieved less than 40 hours, you will not accrue sick and vacation for the month.
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Boulevard
Euless, Texas 76040
M-F: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
Contract & Scheduling Desk
M-F: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
After-Hours Live Chat
M-F: 3:00PM - 11:00 PM (CT)
Sat-Sun: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Currently, no scheduled events...
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Boulevard
Euless, Texas 76040
M-F: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
Contract & Scheduling Desk
M-F: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
After-Hours Live Chat
M-F: 3:00PM - 11:00 PM (CT)
Sat-Sun: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Currently, no scheduled events...
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Boulevard
Euless, Texas 76040
M-F: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
Contract & Scheduling Desk
M-F: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
After-Hours Live Chat
M-F: 3:00PM - 11:00 PM (CT)
Sat-Sun: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Currently, no scheduled events...