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United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: United Airlines workers have asked a judge to certify a class action lawsuit they have lodged against their employer.
- Why: Workers claim United is violating their rights by enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that places them on unpaid leave if they do not comply.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Texas federal court.
United Airlines workers upset with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate have asked a federal judge in Texas to certify two classes of employees within a proposed class action lawsuit alleging the airline is violating their rights.
Workers — including two airline captains, a flight attendant, a customer service rep, and two other employees — have asked the judge to certify a Class of customer facing employees and a Class of non-customer facing employees.
The United Airlines employees claim the airline has faced them with the “impossible choice” of choosing between getting the vaccine or being placed on unpaid leave without benefits.
“This policy of relying on indefinite unpaid leave as a supposed ‘accommodation’ affects all provisional class members in a similar fashion, and all have been harmed essentially the same way — they are faced with the impossible choice of risking their livelihoods or risking their conscience or health,” plaintiffs said in the motion.
Workers claim those who deal with customers face-to-face are currently required to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while employees who don’t deal with customers can still be given temporary accommodations if they choose not to.
United Airlines has said they can rescind the accommodations at any time and instead place the non-customer-facing employees on unpaid leave, according to the motion.
United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Prompts Class Action Lawsuit
United Airlines announced its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its employees back in August.
A group of workers seeking religious and medical exemptions responded by filing the class action lawsuit against United in September.
Workers argue the mandate was discriminatory and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
If certified, the Class could end up including as many as 2,000 United employees, according to the workers latest motion.
In October, a federal judge temporarily blocked United from placing workers on unpaid leave who were seeking medical or religious exemptions from taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
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The plaintiffs are represented by John C. Sullivan of SL Law PLLC, Robert C. Wiegand and Melissa J. Swindle of Stewart Wiegand & Owens PC, and Mark R. Paoletta, Gene C. Schaerr, Brain J. Field, Kenneth A. Klukowski, Joshua J. Prince, and Annika M. Boone of Schaerr Jaffe LLP.
The United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Class Action Lawsuit is Sambrano, et al., v. United Airlines Inc., Case No. 4:21-cv-01074, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
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