NATCA NATIONAL OFFICE
DEPARTMENTAL WEEK IN REVIEW
October 28 - November 3 , 2017
OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL
Update from Office of General Counsel on FLSA Suit – Nov. 7, 2017
In a disappointing development, the Department of Justice filed a notice of appe al on
Nov . 2 in the FLSA lawsuit covering the NATCA plaintiffs (Abbey v. United States). The
filing of the notice of appeal sends the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit for another review. The Government's brief is due to the ap peals court on
or before J an. 5, 2018.
The case was already brought before the appeals court once before after decisions from
the trial court in 2008 and 2011 that were in favor of the NATCA plaintiffs and a trial in
2012 to determine damages. The 2014 review by the appeals court resulted in a
decision that overturned part of the trial court's earlier rulings and a remand of the case
back to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for additional consideration. On remand, the
Court of Federal Claims ruled that t he Government violated the applicable federal law
when it allowed the NATCA plaintiffs to accrue credit hours in excess of twenty - four
hours during the statutory recovery period. The Court of Federal Claims also ruled that
the Department of Justice and FAA were prohibited from introducing additional evidence
in the case at this late stage of the litigation. On Sept . 1 of this year, the parties filed a
joint stipulation of damage awards that were revised to reflect the decisions on remand
and listed the new damage amounts for the 7,912 NATCA plaintiffs in the case.
The DOJ's decision to pursue another appeal in this litigation is a frustrating turn of
events for the NATCA plaintiffs who have prevailed in the trial court on numerous
occasions and have been waiting for resolutio n of this case for more than 10 years.
Counsel for the NATCA plaintiffs intend to vigorously defend the decisions of the trial
court and continue to push for the overdue resolution of this case. Members with
questions about the status of the case should contact NATCA General Counsel
Marguerite L. Graf ( mgraf@natcadc.org ).