Charles J. Mahoney

Charles Mahoney is a counsel in O’Melveny’s New York office and focuses his practice on labor and employment matters. He represents employers from sectors across the economy, including aviation, financial services, sports, technology, and healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

Charles is involved in the pro bono community as well. His practice in this area includes representing military veterans seeking disability benefits and filing an amicus brief on behalf of higher education institutions to protect their DACA students.

• Prevailed on summary judgement motion in nationwide class action brought by pilots who took military leave during their employment and alleged their airline employer violated USERRA by not allowing then to accrue sick leave and vacation while on military leave. Synoracki v. Alaska Airlines, Inc., 2022 WL 1746777 (W.D. Wash. May 31, 2022).
• Prevailed on a motion to dismiss in litigation challenging an airline’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate on the grounds that it presented a minor dispute preempted by the Railway Labor Act. See Stephens v. Am. Airlines, Inc., No. 17, 21-cv-06934, 2022 WL 1115048 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 31, 2022).
• Prevailed on a motion to dismiss in a proposed class action brought against an airline under the Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act on the grounds that the claims were preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act. See Kislov v. Am. Airlines, Inc., No. 17 C 9080, 2022 WL 846840 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 22, 2022).
• Prevailed on summary judgment motion in nationwide class action brought by pilots in the military against an airline alleging the airline violated USERRA by not paying them while on short-term military leave and by not crediting short-term military leave when calculating their awards under a profit sharing plan. Scanlan v. American Airlines Group Inc. , 2022 WL 16636935 (E.D. Pa. November 2, 2022).
• Prevailed on motion to dismiss based on Railway Labor Act preemption on behalf of an airline in a proposed class action brought by a retired flight attendant alleging the airline impermissibly changed her travel privileges. See Wynn v. American Airlines, Inc., 2020 WL 1934994 (E.D. Missouri, April 22, 2020).
• Obtained Third Circuit order decertifying Rule 23 state wage and hour class action of airline employees. Ferreras v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 946 F.3d 178 (3d Cir. 2019)