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United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Employees have lodged a class action lawsuit against United Airlines, Inc.
- What: Staff say the airline violated the laws with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
- Where: The plaintiffs seek to represent United employees nationwide.
United Airlines has been hit with a class action lawsuit by employees who allege a recently announced vaccine mandate requiring them to get the COVID-19 shot, be placed on indefinite leave, or face termination.
The lawsuit was filed in Texas on Tuesday by plaintiffs David Sambrano, David Castillo, Kimberly Hamilton, Debra Jennefer Jonas, Genise Kincannon, and Seth Turnbough.
The group says that they want to remedy United Airline’s “pattern of discrimination” against employees who requested religious or medical accommodations from United’s mandate that its employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Rather than complying with its obligations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, United responded by informing the requesting employees that they would be effectively terminated,” the claim reads.
United Airline Vaccine Mandate Announced
United’s Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby announced that all employees would be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by September 27, 2021 and those who do not upload a copy of their vaccination record showing a COVID-19 vaccination will be terminated, the claim reads. Those who submit religious or medical exemptions from vaccination would be on unpaid leave.
The group say that Title VII and the ADA prohibit United from discriminating against employees based on their religion or on the basis of a disability, and allege that United is doing both.
Sambrano, a captain with United Airlines, requested religious accommodation from United’s vaccine mandate, to which United responded by offering an indefinite period of unpaid leave as a “reasonable accommodation,” the claim explains.
Sambrano, who has worked at United for 31 years, also attempted to request medical accommodation, but United’s online accommodation request system, which was the only formal mechanism United Airlines offered for employees to submit either a religious or medical accommodation request, prevented him from doing so.
The other plaintiffs all shared similar experiences, being either offered indefinite unpaid leave without benefits or termination.
“United’s mandate is absolute—there is no alternative for periodic testing, mask wearing, or social distancing, even for employees who have already had COVID-19 and still enjoy immunity from the disease,” the claim reads.
“Employees must choose vaccination or termination.”
It adds that employees who are “accommodated” for religious or health reasons may choose what will likely be several years of unpaid leave without benefits: effectively, termination.
The group argues that the policy from United contrasts with the Federal Government’s recent announcement that the Department of Labor is developing a rule to require certain large employers to mandate vaccination or periodic testing for its employees.
“What United did do was rely on arbitrary line-drawing rather than engaging in the interactive process with each employee who requested an accommodation,” they say in the claim.
The group wants to represent all United employees who have requested or will request accommodations from United’s vaccine mandate and who have had those accommodation requests either formally or effectively denied. They are suing for violations of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and seek certification of the Class, restraining order, injunctive relief, damages, legal fees and costs, and a jury trial.
Are you a United Airlines employee? Are you required to get a COVID-19 vaccine to keep your job? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
The plaintiffs are represented by John C. Sullivan of S&L Law PLLC; Robert C. Wiegand and Melissa J. Swindle of Stewart Wiegand & Owens PC; and Mark R. Paoletta, Gene C. Schaerr, Brian J. Field, Kenneth A. Klukowski and Annika M. Boone of Schaerr |Jaffe LLP.
The United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Class Action Lawsuit is Sambrano v. United Airlines, Inc., Case No. 4:21-cv-01074-P in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division.
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18 thoughts onUnited Airlines Accused of Violating ADA, Religious Freedoms With Vaccine Mandate in New Class Action
PLEASE ADD ME!
Please add me.
I am sick and tired of people who put themselves above everybody else. You got the shots you needed for school now all at once you do not want to get a shot that protects you but everybody else that comes in contact with you. You think the world involes around you. Get a life get the shot.
Obviously you haven’t kept up on current events and factual info that the COVID shot is dangerous….get a life and get educated.
Thank you for saying exactly what needed to be said. If you have a valid health reason not to get the shot then you shouldn’t have to. Everyone else should though. These entitled people not getting vaccinated are selfish and irresponsible! Thanks to them new variants are going to continue to show up and it will take many years to get COVID under control!
I’ve worked in several places where vaccinations were mandatory. No shots = no work. I have my COVID vaccine.
The misinformation about the shots need to stop!
I agree and will go further stating that I appalled United for their efforts in mitigating the spread of COVID and hope the selfish employees of United NEVER GET THEIR DAY Court because the courts see through this stupidity.
The RN is correct, the vaccine does not prevent a person from getting SARS-Cov-2, it only builds up an immunity to fight against it. This is why some people after getting vaccinated are getting SARS-Cov-2. Just like a person cannot die from SARS-Cov-2. They die from the complications from the SARS-Cov-2. When a DC is signed there is three parts of which a person died of and SARX-Cov-2 is never listed as number one or usually two. The public needs to listen to us medical personnel that rather leave our jobs then take The vaccine. We have a reason. You listened to us before when the pandemic started, what changed? We are the experts.
Please include me
Please add me
Please add me
If individuals are using medical reasons are they even qualified to be working? Additionally using the Nuremburg trials as a precedent in this instance rules out religious or medical reasons leaving personal choice as their option. If they choose to not vaccinate, we as consumers have the right to know as they are putting us at a much higher risk. In my opinion.
The shot doesn’t ‘prevent’ CV. It minimizes the symptoms. If someone doesn’t “feel” sick, they’ll still go out in to public as an asymp-spreader. How is that preferable?
Unless you are a Christian Scientist or a member of the Dutch Reformed Christian church you have no religious exemption. Those are the only religions that specifically in their tenets state no vaccinations. Everyone else it is an excuse to not get vaccinated on personal moral or ethical grounds. Even the Vatican has supported vaccination.
Angie-ever heard of The Nuremberg Code? No medical procedure can be forced on anyone against their will. Informed consent is the RULE, not the exception.
Do you hear yourself? Even the pope says get the jab! Unbelievable??? Wow