8.15.25 – Update: Sit Rig Time & Pay Presidential Grievance/Sit Rig Overpayment CBA Section 11.D.6

Friday, August 15, 2025

Update: Sit Rig Time & Pay Presidential Grievance/Sit Rig Overpayment
CBA Section 11.D.6

American Airlines is violating the newly negotiated Sit Rig pay provisions in CBA 11.D.6. In July, APFA filed a Presidential Grievance calling on the company to abandon their blatant disregard for this hard-fought provision.

The company, doubling down on this contract violation, denied the grievance in a recent letter to APFA.

Yesterday, APFA responded to the company’s denial by filing an appeal to the System Board of Adjustment, per CBA 30.B.2.

Sit Rig Time & Pay Presidential Grievance

As we previously communicated, the company is refusing to follow the contract language which provides for Sit Rig pay to be paid above guarantee for both Lineholders and Reserves. Management’s position is that Sig Rig pay for Reserve Flight Attendants working on a reserve day is absorbed into their applicable guarantee. That results in Sit Rig being paid above guarantee only if a Reserve reaches or exceeds their applicable guarantee.

To be clear, this language was negotiated at the bargaining table as pay-no-credit, which pays above reserve guarantee regardless of how many hours a Reserve Flight Attendant flies.

This is nothing less than an attempt to claw back what we fought for and won in negotiations and is a cynical reversal of both the negotiated language and the intent.

The language in CBA Section 11.D.6 clearly states:

“Duty periods with actual sit times greater than two (2) hours and thirty (30) minutes shall receive one (1) minute of pay for every two (2) minutes of sit time in excess of two (2) hours and thirty (30) minutes. This provision applies to each actual sit-time during a sequence above the first two (2) hours and thirty (30) minutes.  The time is not credited and will be paid in addition to any other pay earned for the sequence.  This provision shall not apply to ODAN’s as provided for in Paragraph L” (emphasis added).

The Presidential Grievance demands the following remedy:

• The Company must classify and apply Sit Rig time as time that is paid and not credited for all Flight Attendants, including both Lineholders and Reserves.
• The Company must pay Sit Rig time above and in addition to any other pay a Reserve earns for a sequence.
• The Company must compensate and make whole all Flight Attendants adversely affected since April 1, 2025, by its wrongful violations, and grant any and all additional relief deemed just and appropriate.

Sit Rig Overpayment

In a related matter, the payroll gymnastics required to ensure Reserve Flight Attendants are not paid Sit Rig above guarantee resulted in close to 20,000 Flight Attendants being overpaid for their Sit Rig for April and May.

The overpayments on average were $80, but some were as high as $1250. Rather than taking accountability for this blunder and absorbing the overpayments, the company is pressuring Flight Attendants to repay the company for the company’s own payroll mistake.

Flight Attendants are being bombarded with CCI messages and emails, demanding the signing of DocuSign agreements so the company can recoup the money paid because of their accounting error.

Flight Attendants are fed up with management holding us to a standard of accountability that is higher than the standard to which management holds themselves.

The Fight Continues

Flight Attendants fought valiantly to ensure we achieved the contract we ratified just under a year ago. The battle to defend those gains continues and requires the collective action and solidarity of all APFA Flight Attendants.

In Solidarity,

Julie Hedrick
National President

Larry Salas
National Vice President