6.20.22 – APFA LGA Base Brief – What New York Flight Attendants Can Do If You Tested Positive For COVID-19

Monday, June 20, 2022

What New York Flight Attendants Can Do if You Tested Positive for COVID-19

It is unfortunate that American Airlines no longer has a pandemic leave policy for its Flight Attendants, despite us working during and currently inside the pandemic. Many of you have sought guidance from our base council, and although we cannot force a pandemic policy upon American, we most did not plan on not continuing to advocate for each of you and our industry. Please find the information in this base brief as a right you have as a worker in New York State. We continue to engage management at every chance we get to make our case of how important it is for Flight Attendants to have protections in place that also protect our customers.

These steps must be followed exactly for you to qualify for the NYS Pandemic Paid Family Leave.

What you need to do:

1. Go to this website to determine where your local Health Department office is. http://www.health.ny.gov/contact/contact_information
2. Call them and inform them you have either tested positive for COVID-19 or that you were exposed to someone who has COVID-19.
3. The DOH agent you speak to will ask you several questions and require you to submit the proper Documentation listed under “Documentation Guidance”.

NOTE- You MUST see a Doctor and that Doctor must attest to the fact that you either tested positive for COVID-19 or testing is currently unavailable to you, but you are symptomatic and have had contact with a known COVID-19 case.

IF YOU DO NEITHER OF THESE, YOUR NYSPFL WILL BE DENIED

While any of the 3 options listed under “Documentation Guidance” may apply to you, you will most likely follow the documentation guidance for testing positive for COVID-19.

It is American Airlines procedure, to have the quarantine order you receive from your NYS LHD, sent to your Attendance Flight Service Manager via email. They, being the American Airlines company representative, should file the paperwork with MetLife who is our STD/LTD administrator within 3 days of receiving the NYS quarantine order from you.

As there are very strict State Government timelines (the documentation must be submitted within 30 days) we suggest that once you have the quarantine order, go ahead and email your AFSM attaching the order to the email.

We also suggest you open a case in the absence tracker, upload the quarantine order and contact MetLife yourself 3 days later to see if the documentation has been sent from American Airlines. If it has not, request MetLife start processing your request for NYS PFML. Inform them that you have a quarantine order and inquire of the best method to provide it to them.

It is imperative that we follow up with all steps listed on the NYS fact sheet. It appears American Airlines no longer believes that COVID-19 is an issue we are at risk of contracting every day we step on an airplane. Thankfully, New York State took the necessary precautions to be sure we, the workers, are protected.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Eric Hodgson at [email protected], or Meilan Smith at [email protected], or Luciana Pais at [email protected]. Please be patient. We will get back to you a soon as we can.

In Solidarity,

Christian M. Santana
APFA LGA Base President 
[email protected]
(347) 546-0703

Penelope King
APFA LGA Base Vice President
[email protected]
(718) 350-7043

Proud to Represent New York-LGA