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United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Class Action Overview:
- Who: United Airlines workers asked the Fifth Circuit court of appeal to grant an injunction stopping their employer from enforcing a vaccine mandate that puts those with religious objections on unpaid leave.
- 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. The panel refused to grant the injunction.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was originally filed in Texas federal court.
United Airlines can continue enforcing a vaccine mandate that requires all of its employees to be vaccinated—or else be put on unpaid leave—even if they have religious objections, a split appeals court panel has ruled.
On Dec. 13, a panel of three judges on the Fifth Circuit court of appeal ruled 2-1 not to block United’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate as the plaintiffs’ lawsuit against their employer continues through the courts.
The judges agreed with the reasons to deny the injunction previously laid out by a district court in November, which found the motion did not reach Fifth Circuit precedent that set a high bar for issuing injunctions.
Despite striking down the injunction, the judges agreed to expedite the plaintiffs’ appeal with U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho writing in his dissent that the vaccine mandate presented a “crisis of conscience” for many people of faith.
“Take this case: The person who acquiesces to United’s mandate despite his faith doesn’t lose any pay. But he will have to wrestle with self doubt — questioning whether he has lived up to the calling of his faith,” Ho wrote in an opinion. “Likewise, the person who refuses must also wrestle with self-doubt — questioning whether his faith has hurt his family, and whether living up to his commitments was worth sacrificing the interests of his loved ones.”
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 a class action lawsuit against United in September.
The five plaintiffs named in the suit, which includes a pilot, flight attendant and mechanic, were granted religious exemptions by the airline based on their beliefs surrounding abortion and fetal cell lines and placed on temporary unpaid leave.
The plaintiffs say the airline has made them face the “impossible choice” of choosing between getting the vaccine or being placed on unpaid leave without benefits.
Workers argue the mandate was discriminatory and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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The employees 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, Brian 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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