O’Melveny Secures Dismissal of Potential Class Action Against American Airlines
June 10, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK—June 10, 2026—A putative class action brought by an American Airlines flight attendant seeking overtime pay was dismissed this week by a Pennsylvania federal judge who said the parties’ collective bargaining agreement governs those claims.
The June 8 decision by US District Judge Kelley B. Hodge provides helpful precedent for similar cases around the country that seek to apply state wage-and-hour laws to contracts negotiated between airlines and their unions—territory governed by the federal Railway Labor Act (RLA), said O’Melveny partner Mark W. Robertson, who represents American Airlines and was lead counsel in this case.
Judge Hodge held that federal law preempts claims by flight attendant Christopher John that American violated the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act by failing to pay overtime John said he had earned because such a claim cannot be resolved without interpreting the governing collective bargaining agreement. The court lacks the jurisdiction to consider the issue of overtime pay given it requires interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement, the judge wrote, noting: “This is precisely the kind of interpretation that the Court is barred from undertaking under the RLA.” The potential class was approximately 3,100 American Airlines flight attendants based in Pennsylvania.
Robertson, global co-chair of O’Melveny’s Aviation Group, said the judge made the correct call: “It is not possible to resolve these types of wage-and-hour claims for flight attendants without interpreting the detailed and complex compensation provisions in their collective bargaining agreement,” he said. “And allowing such claims would undermine the very point of having a holistic negotiated collective bargaining agreement that governs all flight attendants nationwide.”
In addition to Robertson, the O’Melveny team included partner Ian Simmons, counsel Charles Mahoney, and associate Anna Guida.
The case is John v. American Airlines Inc., 2:25-cv-06698-KBH (E.D. Pa.).
O’Melveny’s Aviation Group represents nearly all the US passenger and cargo airlines, airport owners and operators, investors, and developers. Our clients trust us because we offer one of the few comprehensive legal platforms in the industry, with top-notch labor, antitrust, litigation, employment, infrastructure, and equipment finance support.
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Contact:
Brandon Jacobsen
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
+1 213 430 8024
bjacobsen@omm.com
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