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United Airlines Lawsuit

On May 10, 2022, attorneys at Kantor & Kantor, along with co-counsel Jamie Franklin, Mark DeBofsy and Jeffrey Lewis, filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, concerning the right of retirees to participate in later-offered early retirement programs (often referred to as “Oscar’s Promise”).

The following information discusses the lawsuit on behalf of United employees who retired from United Airlines between August 17, 2017, and December 31, 2020.

Case Overview

In 2017, United Airlines (“United”) recognized that employees were reluctant to retire because they did not want to miss out on enhanced retirement benefits the airline periodically offered.

The lawsuit alleges that United violated federal and state law by denying retirees participation in the enhanced early retirement programs offered within 36 months of their retirement. The lawsuit is brought on behalf of all United retirees who retired between August 17, 2017, and December 31, 2020, who would have been eligible for a later-offered retirement program had they not previously retired.

Case Name

The case name is Hoffman, et al. v. United Airlines, et al., No. 1:21-cv-06395, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois.

Status of the Litigation

The original plaintiffs filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on November 30, 2021, and, shortly thereafter, another set of plaintiffs filed a case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. A third set of plaintiffs filed a third case in the Central District of California in 2022.

All three cases were consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois on May 10, 2022.

United Airlines and the other defendants filed a motion to dismiss on June 1, 2022. United Airlines and the other defendants filed a motion to dismiss on June 1, 2022. The Court has not yet ruled on this motion.

On April 26, 2023, plaintiffs and defendants agreed to a stay of the case in order to attend early mediation of the case. The mediation took place on July 27, 2023, and the parties were unable to reach an agreement.

This page will be updated upon receipt of the Court’s decision on the defendants’ motion to dismiss.