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
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Lord, please help these judges that hear their blatant anti constitutional mandates under the guise of a fictional emergency, whilst actively suppressing treatments and medicine that has been proven abroad in other countries that now report a 0% coronu among the population. Even going so far as to execute a doctor bc he was pushing the same lies that our current American govt has been shoving down our throats, browbeating good, honest American taxpayers into taking an experimental injection that cripples your bodies ability to make white blood cells, leaving your immune system weaker with every jab, and now boosters. What in the duck!! Stay strong, don’t take poison, protect your family, and pray to God almighty for salvation. God Bless you. And good luck friend.
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