American Airlines Workers’ Comp in Virginia: Claims, Contract Pay, and Settlements

An injured American Airlines employee based at Reagan National Airport usually has a Virginia workers’ compensation claim. Sedgwick handles the claim for American, including settlement negotiations. The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission reviews any agreement you reach and decides disputes between you and the airline.

Money comes from two places after an injury at American. If the injury is compensable and you receive an award letter, Virginia workers’ comp pays two-thirds of your pre-injury average weekly wage, up to the state cap. Your union contract may pay more on top, under its own rules and deadlines. And when the claim ends, it usually ends in a settlement with American Airlines, where the contract and the workers’ comp claim collide one last time.

This page covers both, work group by work group, and what an American Airlines workers’ comp settlement involves. My airline and airport workers page covers what every airline employee has in common. My flight attendant page explains how to prove a layover or in-flight injury.

Is my American Airlines workers’ comp claim a Virginia claim?

Most of the American Airlines employees I represent are based at DCA, and for them the answer is usually yes. The same goes for anyone hurt in Virginia, including American employees working through Richmond (RIC), Newport News/Williamsburg (PHF), or Charlottesville (CHO). Under Va. Code § 65.2-508, Virginia also covers injuries outside the state when the employment contract was made here, American has a place of business here, and the contract doesn’t limit your work to places outside Virginia.

So a DCA flight attendant hurt on a Phoenix layover usually has a Virginia claim. A Charlotte-based mechanic hurt working at DCA does too, because the injury happened here. A Charlotte-based employee hurt in Charlotte has a North Carolina claim, and I don’t handle those. APFA (the Association of Professional Flight Attendants) tells its members that Sedgwick handles injury claims under the law of the state where they’re based. My jurisdiction page covers when another state is the better place to file.

There are two deadlines. You have 30 days to give American written notice (§ 65.2-600) and two years to file your own claim with the Commission (§ 65.2-601). Reporting to Sedgwick gets American its notice. It doesn’t file your claim with the Commission. You or your lawyer have to do that.

How do I report an injury at American Airlines?

American calls work-related injuries an IOD (injury on duty). You should report it the same day, in writing, and keep a copy of the email, text, or letter for your records.

• Flight attendants: call Sedgwick’s 24-hour reporting line for American at 844-RPRT-IOD (844-777-8463). A registered nurse will answer, ask questions, and recommend care. APFA also tells members to file a CERS report for any work-related injury, including turbulence and fume events.
• Pilots: report the injury to your chief pilot and crew scheduling. After an injury on duty, you can’t self-clear back into the schedule, so expect to need a medical clearance before you fly again.
• Mechanics, fleet service, and agents: tell your supervisor and use American’s injury reporting process for your work group.

Then call your union yourself if you want it involved. Don’t assume American Airlines tells your union you’ve filed an IOD report or a workers’ compensation claim. The table below lists who to call.

What does my union do in an American Airlines workers’ comp claim?

Your union enforces your contract. It doesn’t file your Virginia claim or try it in front of the Commission. Each work group at American has its own union and contract, and the injury terms can differ widely from one group to the next.

PSA, Piedmont, and Envoy fly as American Eagle, but each is its own employer. AFA-CWA represents their flight attendants, and a PSA flight attendant’s claim is against PSA. The flight attendant page covers regional crews.

What does American’s flight attendant contract pay on top of comp?

Up to six months of salary continuance. Section 27 of the APFA contract pays a flight attendant on workers’ comp her six-month average of credit hours, capped at 110 hours a month, until she’s released to duty. American pays the difference between that figure and her workers’ comp check, then reduces it to account for the fact that workers’ comp isn’t taxed. The contract doesn’t spell out that formula, so ask American to show you its math, then have your lawyer and union rep verify it.

Two things to pay attention to with the six-month average. Only months you were active at least 15 days count, so a month you spent mostly off doesn’t drag it down. Hours you picked up through the ETB (Electronic Trade Board) count too. Check American’s number against your own records before you accept it.

The six-month clock usually starts the month you’re hurt. If you’d already flown past your average or the 110-hour cap that month, salary continuance pays nothing for it, and the clock starts the following month.

Virginia workers’ compensation pays two-thirds of your average weekly wage when your doctor has you off all work or you have an award. Those checks are temporary total disability (TTD) benefits.

Take a DCA-based American flight attendant whose six-month average is 85 credit hours at $60 an hour. She herniates a disc lifting a bag into a bin, and her surgeon keeps her off for nine months. Assume her earnings over the 52 weeks before the injury, which is what Virginia uses, also work out to $1,176.92 a week. Her six-month contract average and her Virginia workers’ compensation wage aren’t always the same number, so check both.

Look at month 7. Her income drops by about $1,700, and her back is no better than it was in month 6. Section 27 lets her move to long-term disability under Section 26 once salary continuance runs out, but that takes an application. Plan for month 7 in month 2.

What happens when salary continuance ends?

When your salary continuance runs out, you can draw down hours from your sick bank, then vacation. You remain an active American Airlines employee for medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance while you do.

After those hours run out, American Airlines moves you to an unpaid Occupational Injury/Medical Leave of Absence, and the benefits tied to that leave continue. Seniority keeps building.

The contract also lets you skip the sick bank and go straight to unpaid leave, if you ask within 7 business days of salary continuance ending. It sounds like a smart way to save your hours. It isn’t. A flight attendant who goes unpaid without using up her sick bank isn’t eligible for long-term disability.

When salary continuance lasts longer than six months

The six months stretches to 36 for an injury from an aircraft accident, meaning an event during flight operations in which someone dies or the aircraft is substantially damaged. The injury also has to be serious:

• A hospital stay over 48 hours, starting within 7 days of the injury
• A broken bone, other than a simple fracture of a finger, toe, or nose
• Severe bleeding, or nerve, muscle, or tendon damage
• An internal organ injury
• Second- or third-degree burns, or burns over more than 5% of the body

A major accident goes further. If it killed more than one person, or killed one and substantially damaged the aircraft, a flight attendant whose injuries keep her from returning gets 75 hours of pay a month after the 36 months run out. Workers’ comp offsets it, but nothing comes out of her sick bank, and contract raises still apply. It lasts until she leaves American or turns 65.

What else Section 27 protects

Section 27 protects more than pay. You’re paid for the duty period you got hurt in, once Sedgwick approves the claim. Your seniority keeps building through the whole absence, unpaid occupational leave included, and you keep accruing sick and vacation while you’re on salary continuance. The injury doesn’t count as a sick-leave occurrence. If you’re still on probation, that clock is extended by the time you’re out instead of running down. And you don’t have to work light duty to get any of it.

Keep the letter American sends when the IOD starts. The contract requires it to spell out your leave obligations under Section 25. If you and American disagree about whether you’re ready to go back, that dispute goes through the contract’s medical exam process in Section 28, unless Virginia’s workers’ comp statute already covers it.

Want to see your own month-7 number? Send me your base, your six-month average, and what Sedgwick is paying. I’ll run it with you.

Why the doctor you choose decides your contract pay

Section 27 pays salary continuance only if you choose a physician from American’s Preferred Provider Network (PPN), the company’s list of approved comp doctors. There are three exceptions:

• You’re based in a state where American doesn’t use a PPN.
• Your state has no PPN.
• You live more than 45 miles from the nearest PPN provider.

Virginia workers’ compensation has its own rule. Under § 65.2-603, the employer offers a panel of at least three doctors, and the one you pick becomes your treating physician. So one choice can control both your medical care and your contract pay. Here’s what to look for when choosing a doctor from the workers’ comp panel.

Pilots have their own version of this rule, covered in the next section. Either way, ask one question before you pick a name off the list: is this doctor in American’s network? The wrong answer can cost months of contract pay without changing a dollar of your Virginia workers’ comp benefits.

What does American’s pilot contract pay while you’re out?

Sick pay, as long as a network physician is treating you. Section 10 of the APA contract lets a pilot treated by a network physician for a compensable injury draw sick leave for the lost time. If you’re out more than seven days on a compensable claim, American puts the sick time back in your bank when you return. However, APA warns that the restoration happens only once, so don’t come back until you’re fully able. Sick time used for days Sedgwick decides aren’t compensable may stay spent.

A pilot treated outside the network may get no sick pay for any period workers’ comp is paying weekly benefits. That matters more for pilots than anyone else at American Airlines. Virginia’s maximum check is $1,507.01 a week as of July 1, 2026, and most American pilots earn far more than that cap replaces. Choose the wrong doctor, and a captain can end up living on the cap.

The contract also sets deadlines that catch pilots off guard, starting with paperwork. Once you’re out more than 14 days, you need a sick verification form on file with American, with your doctor’s diagnosis and expected return date, before day 22. Pilots can submit it through Absence Soft on JetNet. If it’s late, sick pay stops until it shows up. If American decides it’s incomplete, it can treat the whole absence as unpaid and take the sick pay back. You’ll also be asked to sign releases.

Then there’s the sick bank. On long-term sick leave, you pick a monthly payout between 65 and 130 hours, and if you don’t pick, you get 85. A pilot with more than 195 hours banked can cap how much he spends before long-term disability starts, but only if he files the long-term sick designation on time. APA’s guidance puts the deadline at noon central on the 7th of the month before you elect not to bid. Miss that, and you burn through all your sick and vacation time first.

Those elections interact with comp and LTD, and they’re hard to undo. Have someone check the numbers before you send the form.

What do mechanics, fleet service workers, and agents get?

Mechanics work under a different contract and get paid differently. Under Article 24 of the TWU-IAM agreement, American tops a mechanic’s pay to his full base rate for the first 20 workdays, paying the difference between his regular hourly rate and his workers’ comp check. After day 20, he can choose to draw sick leave at up to half pay alongside comp, as long as the two together don’t exceed his regular base weekly pay. Those injury benefits replace any other sick pay for the same injury. Fleet service and stores have their own agreements, so check yours.

Take a DCA line mechanic with a base weekly pay of $1,920 (40 hours at $48). Overtime pushes his average weekly wage to $2,150. He tears a meniscus kneeling in a wheel well.

His overtime helps his comp rate but not his full amount, which stops at base pay. After day 20, he’s spending sick hours to buy $486.67 a week. Whether that’s a good trade depends on how long he’ll be out and how big his bank is.

Mechanics usually get offered light duty

Unlike flight attendants, mechanics often have a job to return to under restrictions. Article 26 of the contract sets how long it lasts:

• If you can do substantially all the essential parts of your job, limited duty with no end date.
• If you can do reasonable productive work in your classification but not most of your job, up to 90 workdays for an on-the-job injury, if meaningful work is available.
• If you can’t work in your classification at all, other productive work for up to 60 workdays, if American has some you’re qualified for.

Virginia’s workers’ comp rules apply on top of that. Turn down a job within your restrictions, and § 65.2-510 lets American stop your wage checks. When the 90 or 60 days run out and nothing else is offered, you have to market your remaining work capacity, unless you already have an award. With an award, American has to go to the Commission before it can stop your checks. Put the end date on your calendar the day limited duty starts.

Don’t take a side job without written permission

This one can end your career. Under Article 25, a mechanic on an occupational injury leave of more than 7 consecutive days who takes other paid work without written permission from both American and the union is treated as having resigned. His name is removed from the seniority list.

That rule runs straight into Virginia’s marketing requirement, which can make you look for work within your restrictions. Looking is fine. Accepting is the problem. Get permission from American Airlines and your union in writing before you start any outside job.

What an occupational injury leave protects

• Up to 5 years of leave, with seniority and sick leave building the whole time.
• Health coverage at active-employee rates for 12 months, as long as you keep paying your share, then at full cost. Life insurance stays at active rates.
• Travel privileges under company policy.

A mechanic who hasn’t come back within 5 years is treated as having resigned, but not automatically. American has to send 180 days’ written notice by certified mail, and you can ask for more time before the 5 years run out. Keep your address current, because every leave notice goes there. When your leave ends, report to your station on your first scheduled workday. Missing it can end the leave and your job.

What happens to my pay in the first week?

Virginia doesn’t pay the first 7 days of disability unless you’re out more than 3 weeks, under § 65.2-509. For flight attendants, Section 27 covers that week with sick leave, then vacation, for trips and reserve days scheduled in it. The trips are counted from your projected line on the day the waiting period starts. Anything else that week goes unpaid.

Out past three weeks? Then Virginia pays the waiting week after all. You repay American, and the sick and vacation time goes back in your bank.

What happens if Sedgwick denies the claim?

A Sedgwick denial isn’t a ruling. You file with the Commission, and the Commission decides whether the injury is covered, at a hearing if it comes to that. My denied claims page covers the process.

Meanwhile, the flight attendant contract carries you. Section 27 lets you use sick leave during the appeal, and vacation if you choose. If you’re on sick leave and want to cancel vacation you already have scheduled, tell American. If the denial is reversed, American puts back the time you used plus what you would have accrued, up to what salary continuance would have paid. With no sick or vacation time left, salary continuance and benefits are paid retroactively once the claim is approved.

So use the sick bank while the denial is pending. It keeps money coming in during the appeal, and you get the time back if you win.

What Sedgwick is doing with your American Airlines claim

One of the first things Sedgwick does with your claim is set a reserve, the amount it sets aside as its estimate of what you’ll cost. Every early step feeds that number: the nurse-line call, the recorded statement, the choice of doctor. The adjuster is usually pleasant. The reserve is what matters.

In 2015, an insurance industry publication reported that Sedgwick had more than 50 adjusters on the American account full-time. Adjusters needed approval from American Airlines’s own workers’ comp team to hire defense counsel or discuss settlement. I can’t tell you the setup is identical today. If it is, your adjuster isn’t the final decision on what American Airlines will pay.

I’ve worked with Sedgwick adjusters on American Airlines claims out of Charlotte and Richmond, and I’ve found American and Sedgwick reasonable to deal with. American’s Virginia defense lawyers include Woods Rogers in Norfolk and Midkiff, Muncie & Ross in Richmond. I know them, and they know me. That history matters most when the conversation turns to settlement.

What does an American Airlines workers’ comp settlement involve?

I’ve negotiated many American Airlines settlements, including at mediation, and the indemnity number is rarely the hardest part. A Virginia workers’ compensation settlement closes some or all of your comp benefits for a lump sum, and the Commission has to approve it under § 65.2-701. At American, the deal also touches your job, your contract, your travel, and other workers’ comp claims you may have that remain open, and those terms usually take longer to work out than the number.

When American Airlines is ready to talk

Sedgwick and American Airlines are usually open to settling, and in my experience more so when the airline is trying to reduce headcount based on the economy and things outside of your case. Being open to it isn’t the same as offering what the claim is worth, and the first number rarely is one to accept.

The right time for you is usually later than the first offer. Wait until your doctor can say whether you’ll get back to full duty, what treatment you’ll still need, and what your permanent impairment rating is. Before then, nobody, you included, knows what you’re giving up.

For flight attendants, the no-light-duty rule is real leverage. American Airlines generally has no ground job to offer, and once you have an award, you don’t have to market your work capacity to keep the checks coming. American has to go to the Commission to stop them. That’s a big reason many of my flight attendant settlements exceed $150,000. Every case is different, and past results don’t guarantee a future outcome.

What the workers’ comp number leaves out

Sedgwick’s offer starts from its own math: the strength of its defenses, the weekly checks it expects to keep paying, the medical expenses it expects to keep covering, and the odds a deputy commissioner keeps both going. At American Airlines, what that math leaves out can be worth as much as the checks.

Start with medical care. You can try to settle the wage-loss part and keep your medical open, or close everything. If you close medical, the lump sum has to cover every appointment, scan, and surgery you’ll still need, because Sedgwick won’t pay for them again.

Then the job. American may ask you to resign or retire and to release other employment claims. Workers’ comp law doesn’t require that, but American can force it in exchange for paying a settlement. It’s a term you negotiate, so price your other claims with an employment lawyer before you agree to it. Ask which one American wants, too. A resignation and a retirement aren’t the same thing, and the difference can matter for travel and benefits.

Pass travel (flight benefits) follows company policy, not the comp statute, and it can be treated differently during an injury leave, after a resignation, and after a retirement, for you and for your dependents. Settling the workers’ comp claim doesn’t end it by itself. Leaving American might. Find out where you’ll land before you sign and protect flight benefits in the release.

Some costs don’t show up until after the check clears. Long-term disability can take an offset from the settlement. A lump sum settlement from workers’ comp can also sink an SSDI check. The right words in your settlement papers can reduce or even eliminate these risks. Also, if you’re on Medicare, or reasonably expect to be within 30 months, the deal may need a Medicare set-aside, money held back for future injury-related care. Whether you need one depends on your Medicare status and the size of the settlement.

Flight attendants should also find out whether American Airlines claims a salary continuance overpayment. Section 27 makes you repay one, and American has to tell you about the amount in writing. Find out before you sign, not after. I’ve negotiated waivers of these amounts.

How the deal gets done

Most American Airlines workers’ comp settlements I handle are worked out with Sedgwick and American’s defense lawyer. Many resolve at mediation, through the Commission’s free program or a private mediator. Because the number may need American Airlines’ approval, not just Sedgwick’s, expect some time between “we’re close” and a signed agreement.

Once both sides sign, the agreement goes to the Commission for approval. Until the Commission enters its order, the deal isn’t final. Don’t hand in a resignation letter or stop treatment before the order is entered.

Want to know what your American Airlines claim is worth before the first offer arrives? My settlements page covers how Virginia claims are valued, and I’m glad to run your numbers with you.

When you need help, and when you may not

Not every American claim needs a lawyer. If Sedgwick accepted it and paid, your contract pay arrived on time, and you’re back at work with no lasting problem, you can probably handle it yourself. File the Commission claim form anyway. It’s free.

Get help when Sedgwick denies the claim, when you haven’t picked a doctor yet, when you’re nearing month 6 of salary continuance, when a contract election form lands in front of you, or when American raises settlement or separation.

Mistakes that cost American employees money

• Picking a doctor before asking which ones are in American’s network.
• Assuming the union knows about your IOD.
• Going without income during a denial appeal when the sick bank could carry you.
• Reaching month 7 of salary continuance with no LTD application.
• Choosing unpaid leave to save the sick bank, then learning that choice ended your LTD eligibility.
• Missing a pilot’s 22-day paperwork deadline or Section 10.C.8 sick-bank designation deadline.
• Taking a side job during an occupational injury leave without written permission.
• Agreeing to resign in a settlement before factoring in your other claims and benefits. I’ve used the fact that an American Airlines pilot would give up LTD once he settled to negotiate a settlement that included the value of those payments on top of his workers’ comp case.
• Closing medical in a settlement without projecting the care you’ll still need.
• Resigning before the Commission approves the settlement.

Common questions, straight answers

Who handles workers’ comp claims for American Airlines?
Sedgwick, as American Airlines’s third-party administrator. Sedgwick runs the claim, but the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission decides it when there is a disagreement.

Does APFA, APA, or TWU-IAM file my comp claim?
Usually not. Your union enforces your contract: pay, seniority, benefits, and your job. You or your lawyer files the Virginia workers’ comp claim.

I’m an American flight attendant. Do I have to work light duty to get salary continuance?
No. Section 27 says so directly, and APFA tells members light duty isn’t an option for American flight attendants.

How long does salary continuance last?
Up to six months for the injury, or up to 36 months for serious injuries from an aircraft accident. When it ends, you can move to long-term disability under Section 26. Virginia workers’ comp keeps paying if you’re still disabled.

Can I go on unpaid leave instead of using my sick bank?
You can, if you ask within 7 business days of salary continuance ending. But you lose eligibility for long-term disability if you do. If there’s any chance you’ll need LTD, use the sick bank.

I’m an American pilot. Does the contract pay more than comp?
Yes, through sick pay, if a network physician is treating you. American restores the sick bank for the time comp covered once you’re back, if you were out more than seven days. But only once. Outside the network, you get no sick pay while comp is paying weekly benefits.

I’m an American mechanic. Does American make up the difference between comp and my pay?
For the first 20 workdays, yes, under Article 24 of the TWU-IAM agreement. After that you can add sick leave at up to half pay, capped at your base weekly pay.

I’m on an occupational injury leave. Can I work somewhere else?
Not without written permission from American and your union. Under the TWU-IAM contract, taking outside work during a leave of more than 7 days without it is treated as a resignation.

When will American offer to settle my claim?
Often once your treatment levels off and there’s an impairment rating, and in my experience more readily when the airline is trying to cut headcount. The first offer is rarely the best one. Wait until you know what care you’ll still need.

Will settling my comp claim end my pass travel/flight benefits?
Not by itself. Pass travel follows company policy, not the workers’ comp statute. But if the deal includes a resignation or retirement, your travel can change, for you and your dependents. Ask which one American wants and get the travel answer before you sign. I’ve negotiated travel protections into many American Airlines settlements.

Will American make me resign to settle?
In my experience, yes. Virginia workers’ compensation law doesn’t require it, so it’s a term you negotiate. But it’s usually a requirement.

I fly for PSA, Piedmont, or Envoy. Is this my page?
No. Those airlines are separate employers with their own contracts, and your claim is against your airline. Start with the flight attendant page.

The one thing to do this week

Before you pick a doctor or sign a contract form, find out two things: which providers on your list are in American’s network, and what your contract pays on top of workers’ comp. Those two answers decide how much of your paycheck survives the injury, and how much leverage you’ll have when American Airlines wants to settle.