An American Airlines flight attendant says she was accused of fraud after taking leave for post-mastectomy surgery

• An American Airlines flight attendant said she was accused of fraud after taking medical leave.
• Jeannine Schumacher said she took medical leave for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy.

An American Airlines flight attendant said she was accused of taking fraudulent medical leave linked to a cancer diagnosis.

In a video posted by the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union representing more than 25,000 members of cabin crew, Jeannine Schumacher said she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2019.

Schumacher, who's based in Phoenix and has been a flight attendant for 23 years, said she immediately began undergoing chemotherapy following her diagnosis, which continued for a year, and had eight surgeries in two years.

Following successful treatment, Schumacher said she requested medical leave for reconstructive surgery, which her attendance manager appeared to informally approve over the phone for four consecutive months.

According to the American Cancer Society, those diagnosed with breast cancer can often choose to undergo a mastectomy if trying to surgically remove the cancer is not possible or if the risk of recurrence is high.

Up to half of breast-cancer survivors in the US undergo reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy, according to the National Library of Medicine.

But Schumacher said that when she had a face-to-face meeting with the same attendance manager, they told her that because the reconstructive surgery was considered an "elective procedure," she'd been placed under investigation for fraud under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

"I got so angry that I couldn't even talk, and I just stared out the window," Schumacher said in the video.

Elective surgeries aren't normally covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, but surgery to treat an impairment often is.

According to the Job Accommodation Network, a resource that the Department of Labor recommends, an employee undergoing reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy should be covered under the ADA.

This is because it creates an impairment that a life-altering illness ultimately caused, the Job Accommodation Network said.

"There's not one easy road. It would have been nice if I wasn't worried about my employment while I was on this journey," Schumacher said in the video.

"American Airlines' slogan is, 'Caring for people on life's journey.' It would have been nice if they cared for me during mine."

American Airlines didn't respond to requests for comment from Insider.