In Farah v. Emirates, Renaker Scott LLP, Risman & Risman, P.C., and Brustein Law PLLC represent a proposed class of former employees of Emirates airlines who were laid off without severance pay in 2020. In their complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in July 2021, the plaintiffs allege that Emirates has an ERISA-governed severance plan that requires it to pay benefits of up to 26 weeks’ pay plus subsidized COBRA coverage to employees terminated without cause, but that Emirates has refused to honor this obligation to U.S. employees laid off in 2020. The plaintiffs also allege that Emirates failed to comply with other requirements of ERISA, violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and discriminated and retaliated against the employees.
In April 2024, a New York federal judge rejected defendants’ arguments that the court should dismiss plaintiffs’ claims. “The court concludes that the allegations could support an inference that the severance plan was an ERISA-governed plan,” the court said, and “the court finds that plaintiffs have adequately pled claims for relief under ERISA.” The court similarly rejected defendants’ attempts to have the other claims tossed, finding that the plaintiffs set forth enough detail to support their claims at this stage of the litigation.
For more information on this case, please contact Kirsten Scott at kirsten@renakerscott.com, or Teresa Renaker at teresa@renakerscott.com.