Former Spirit Airlines Employees File Class Action Lawsuit After Being Laid Off Without Warning

A class-action lawsuit was filed earlier this week against Spirit Airlines after the company abruptly announced that it was ceasing operations and laying off thousands of employees.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York on behalf of former employees, claims that Spirit violated labor laws when it shut down on May 2 and informed about 17,000 workers through a company email that their jobs had been immediately eliminated.

In the suit, workers claim they lost their jobs, benefits, and access to company systems on May 2, and were owed accrued vacation and sick pay. They said they were told they would be paid through May 2 but many workers alleged that they had not yet received their final paychecks or compensation for unused vacation and sick time.

The lawsuit seeks damages equal to 60 days of wages and benefits under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN Act.

The act is a U.S. labor law that requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 days advance written notice of plant closings or mass layoffs.

Spirit Airlines reported in a WARN notice that 201 employees at its Newark facility were affected by layoffs.

The abrupt shutdown was expected to hit New Jersey airports hard, particularly Atlantic City International Airport — where Spirit has been one of only a handful of commercial carriers — and Newark Liberty International Airport, where the airline maintained a major operating base.

©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit nj.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.