Spirit Airlines workers from Florida sue company over abrupt shutdown

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.

The case is the first known employee lawsuit filed against the airline since its May 2 demise, Eric Lechtzin, one of the plaintiff’s 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.

“This 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,” the attorney said.

Lechtzin told the Herald that 17,000 former Spirit employees “have been left without jobs or benefits and are still owed accrued sick leave and vacation pay.”

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.

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.

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 an email to employees telling them the company was immediately closing.

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’s total in 2025. The company’s headquarters complex was in Dania Beach. .

The lawsuit’s 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.

Five of the six plaintiffs live in Florida and all worked for Spirit until May 2. The class-action case is also “on behalf of all others similarly situated.”

Spirit’s troubles were well-known, but the lawsuit claims that many employees were misled and ultimately blind-sided.

The court filing cites “numerous assurances by senior management ... that Spirit would continue.” And it says “as 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.”

Separately, several Spirit workers interviewed by the Herald since May 2 have backed up that assessment.

Reid Mitchell, a first officer for Spirit, told the Herald on May 4 in front of company headquarters in Dania Pointe, that “we were told by the company until the very last day that ‘everything is normal, just go to work, don’t believe the media.’ ”

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.

“Until Thursday [April 30], we were trying to get an agreement,” said Bret Oestreich, national president of Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, a union that represents aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers.

A union member Donald “Dean” Zoellers, who managed airline maintenance technicians at Orlando International Airport, also told the Herald he was stunned.

On Wednesday evening, Lechtzin, one of the attorneys, said, “We are committed to obtaining the compensation the law provides and to holding Spirit accountable.”

His firm Edelson Lechtzin LLP and Todd E. Duff PLLC represent the plaintiffs. Spirit Airlines management could not be reached for comment.

This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 5:38 AM.