{"id":474,"date":"2026-05-14T10:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:01:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:01:31","slug":"spirit-airlines-workers-from-florida-sue-company-over-abrupt-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474","title":{"rendered":"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Former Spirit Airlines employees have filed  a class-action lawsuit against the company, claiming it  violated federal law in the way it abruptly shut down and dismissed thousands of employees.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=472\">Moldy fruit and why a Miami Beach grocer may be banned from getting new food<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The case is  the first known employee lawsuit filed against the airline since its May 2 demise, Eric Lechtzin, one of the plaintiff\u2019s lawyers, said Wednesday in an email  interview with the Miami Herald. The suit was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an important case in which we are seeking to vindicate the rights of Spirit Airlines employees who suddenly lost their jobs when Spirit shut down on May 2, 2026, despite assurances that operations would continue,\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Lechtzin told the Herald that  17,000 former Spirit employees \u201chave been left without jobs or benefits and are still owed accrued sick leave and vacation pay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit claims  that Spirit violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, known as WARN, by failing to give employees 60 days of advance written notice of termination.  The suit seeks damages equivalent to 60 days of pay and benefits.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Spirit had been in the middle of its second bankruptcy restructuring in under two years and in March presented a rough framework agreed to by creditors that outlined how it could turn things around. But a subsequent spike in fuel costs due to the U.S. war with Iran and related global volatility made that plan unworkable.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The airline  decided to call it quits but without providing employees severance or extension of their benefits. At 3 a.m. on May 2, Spirit sent oan email to aemployees telling them the company was \/mmediately\/closing.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Of the 17,000 Spirit employees, more than 2,500 were based at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Broward-based Spirit had more flights at FLL  than any other airport, and it was the top provider of passengers that went through that airport, about 28% of FLL\u2019s total in 2025. The company\u2019s headquarters complex was in Dania Beach. .<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit\u2019s plaintiffs are Alexa Garcia, a transportation compliance specialist; Jonathan Dionne, a software engineer; Kenneth J. Mangione, a senior maintenance planner; Nicole Ali, a flight attendant; Billy Moss, a heavy maintenance project manager; and Erick Salazar, a senior software engineer.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Five of the  six  plaintiffs live in Florida and all  worked for Spirit until May 2. The class-action case is also \u201con behalf of all others similarly situated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=470\">Miami-Dade commissioners inch closer to funding new mental health center<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Spirit\u2019s troubles were well-known, but the lawsuit  claims that many employees were misled and ultimately blind-sided.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The court filing cites \u201cnumerous assurances by senior management &#8230; that Spirit would continue.\u201d And it says \u201cas recently as April 16, 2026, Spirit had advised its employees that it planned on continuing operations and that they should ignore the rumors that Spirit was near a termination point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Separately, several Spirit workers  interviewed by the Herald since May 2 have backed up that assessment.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Reid Mitchell, a first officer for Spirit, told the Herald on May 4 in front of company headquarters in Dania Pointe, that \u201cwe were told by the company until the very last day that \u2018everything is normal, just go to work, don\u2019t believe the media.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>And a union leader even said that he and Spirit officials were in meetings, trying to refine their contract less than 48 hours before the fateful decision.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil Thursday [April 30], we were trying to get an agreement,\u201d said Bret Oestreich, national president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, a union that represents aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>A union member Donald \u201cDean\u201d Zoellers, who managed airline maintenance technicians at Orlando International Airport, also told the Herald he was stunned.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday evening, Lechtzin, one of the attorneys, said, \u201cWe are committed to obtaining the compensation the law provides and to holding Spirit accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>His firm Edelson Lechtzin LLP and Todd E. Duff PLLC represent the plaintiffs. Spirit Airlines management could not be reached  for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=469\">Mother of slain Coral Springs vice mayor files to run for her commission seat<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lawsuit alleges Spirit Airlines failed to give 60 days notice under the WARN Act after abruptly closing on May 2, affecting thousands of Florida-based employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown - Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A lawsuit alleges Spirit Airlines failed to give 60 days notice under the WARN Act after abruptly closing on May 2, affecting thousands of Florida-based employees.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\"},\"headline\":\"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474\"},\"wordCount\":699,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474\",\"name\":\"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown - Florida Moving Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":674},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=474#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Florida Moving Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/floridamovingchronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown - Florida Moving Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown - Florida Moving Chronicle","og_description":"A lawsuit alleges Spirit Airlines failed to give 60 days notice under the WARN Act after abruptly closing on May 2, affecting thousands of Florida-based employees.","og_url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474","og_site_name":"Florida Moving Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f"},"headline":"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown","datePublished":"2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474"},"wordCount":699,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474","name":"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown - Florida Moving Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-14T10:01:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/966cc9ceb40be6d5de04d0a05b6d5acc.jpg","width":1200,"height":674},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=474#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/","name":"Florida Moving Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/482f60b6a0b7cc84b37966d78057552f","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}