May 21 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday

revived a lawsuit by American Airlines ( AAL ) pilots over the

carrier's failure to pay them for short-term military leave.

In a 3-0 decision, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in

Philadelphia said a reasonable jury could find short-term

military leave comparable to jury duty leave or bereavement

leave, for both of which American pays pilots.

The court revived a class action by pilots who took

short-term military leave, defined as 16 or fewer days, from

January 2013 to October 2021.

During that period, the leaves averaged 3.3 days, while jury

duty and bereavement leaves averaged 1.8 days and 2.7 days

respectively.

But pilots took short-term military leave more often,

averaging about 22 days annually, compared with about two days

of jury duty leave and three days of bereavement leave.

Without ruling on the merits, Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman

said the leaves had similar lengths, and pilots had little or no

control over when to take them.

She also said jurors could find that military leave and jury

duty leave shared a common purpose: civic duty.

Pilots sued under the Uniformed Services Employment and

Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, which gives employees on

military leave a right to the same benefits as other employees.

The pilots were led by James Scanlan, a retired major

general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and Carla Riner, a

brigadier general in the Delaware Air National Guard.

American and its lawyers did not immediately respond to

requests for comment. A lawyer for the pilots had no immediate

comment.

The appeals court agreed with American that the Fort Worth,

Texas-based carrier did not breach the pilots' profit-sharing

plan.

It returned the case to U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle

III in Philadelphia, who had dismissed it in November 2022. The

lawsuit began in 2018.

The case is Scanlan et al v American Airlines Group Inc ( AAL ), 3rd

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-3294.