Photo: Bradley King//Unsplash
Almost 2,000 ski and snowboard instructors working for Vail Resorts have joined a lawsuit against the company claiming it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit, which was filed in March of 2025, was opened to all current and former snowsports instructors across all Vail Resorts locations in the United States employed after December 2, 2017. Vail Daily reported that applied to around 24,000 potential employees within the company who were all notified of the case and given the opportunity to join the collective action suit.
The lawsuit alleges instructors were not reimbursed for several “off-the-clock” tasks that qualified as requirements for the job. This included things like travel time between different job sites, training time, and “donning and doffing” (the time spent putting on and taking off uniforms and equipment). The suit also alleges instructors weren’t reimbursed for snowsports equipment or other work-related costs like cell phone usage.
For its part, Vail Resorts denies the claims that it violated any laws.
“Vail Resorts believes it has paid and continues to pay all Snow Sports Instructors in full compliance with the law,” a statement reads on a website detailing the suit. That same website has been used as a signup destination for instructors eligible to join the Collective Action Suit. The original deadline for past and current employees to join the Collective Action was set for April 15, 2026, but a judge’s order this week could potentially extend that timeline.
Just last month, Vail Resorts was named in another class action lawsuit alongside Alterra Mountain Company. Goloja v. Vail Resorts Inc . alleges the two ski resort operators have restrained competition and forced consumers to pay unfairly high prices by bundling access to ski hills into multi-mountain season passes.
