U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada have joined 119 other members of Congress in asking Spirit Airlines and Google to protect former employees’ information in a proposed sale of the defunct airline’s internal data. The lawmakers’ letter, led by Horsford and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, went to Spirit CEO Dave Davis and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It asks the companies to exclude employee information from the transaction as much as possible and to put privacy safeguards in place before any worker-related data is transferred. The proposed $10 million sale is awaiting approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane. A hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 14, in White Plains, New York, was moved to Nov. 6, according to a notice filed by Spirit’s attorneys. The data package reportedly includes about 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, employee records, timecards, payroll and tax information, and employment contracts. Spirit’s passenger profiles and Free Spirit loyalty-program records are not included, according to court filings cited in reports on the case. The lawmakers warned that removing names and other direct identifiers may not be enough to prevent people from being identified through modern artificial intelligence. They cited guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology that de-identified information can sometimes be linked back to individuals. Their requests include excluding employee training records, timecards, payroll data and Microsoft 365 content containing flight attendant information; developing a de-identification protocol with workers’ input; and independently reviewing confidentiality protections. They also called for a ban on using the data to profile identifiable groups of workers and for the exclusion of information from voluntary aviation safety reporting programs. “Spirit’s workers handed over this information because their jobs required it, not so it could be sold to train a different company’s AI,” Horsford said. He added that nearly 1,000 people in Las Vegas had been laid off from Spirit. Google has said it will not receive personally identifiable information and that an independent third party will remove identifying details before the data changes hands. A company spokesperson said Google was “not looking to buy any personal information from Spirit.” The court-appointed consumer privacy ombudsman recommended approval of the sale in an Oct. 5 report, citing steps to narrow the consumer data included and to de-identify certain information. Her review addressed consumer privacy, not risks to employees. Unions have also challenged the proposed sale. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA filed an objection in August and later said the parties had made progress, though a report on the case said Spirit had not agreed to exclude flight attendants’ tax forms. The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots including more than 700 former Spirit pilots, argued in a September filing that the deal could discourage workers across the airline industry from reporting safety concerns. Air Line Pilots Association President Capt. Jason Ambrosi said workers need to trust that safety disclosures will remain confidential. The union objections come amid Spirit’s bankruptcy proceedings following the airline’s shutdown after 34 years of operation. The company announced it had gone out of business on May 2, after a federal bailout failed to materialize. Google won a virtual auction for the data on Aug. 14 with a $10 million bid, ahead of a $7.5 million offer from AI company Mercor.io. AI training company micro1 later proposed $12.5 million; the ombudsman has said further privacy review would be needed if the court considers an alternative bid.