United Airlines Vaccine Mandate Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: A judge has denied a request from United Airlines employees’ to extend a temporary injunction blocking the airline from placing employees granted religious or medical exemption from its vaccine mandate on indefinite unpaid leave.
- Why: Employees argued being placed on indefinite unpaid leave violates their rights and causes them irreparable harm.
- Where: The class action lawsuit is pending in Texas federal court.
United Airlines employees face being put on indefinite, unpaid leave after a federal judge has denied a request to extend a temporary injunction blocking the airline.
United employees who claimed religious and medical exemptions from the mandate argued that being placed on unpaid leave will cause them “irreparable” harm.
US District Judge Mark T. Pittman disagreed with the workers, ruling the indefinite unpaid leave was a result of their own choices and that it was actually an accommodation for non-vaccinated employees, rather than a punishment.
“United exempted plaintiffs from the vaccine mandate; plaintiffs were not required to violate their religious belief,” the judge said in the order. “United’s employees claimed they faced an impossible choice: get the vaccine or endure unpaid leave. But they have chosen … the latter. Their dispute thus centers on United’s response to their choice.”
The judge acknowledged that he was sympathetic to the United Airline workers who now face, in essence, loss of their livelihood, but that the court must decide its rulings on facts, not feelings.
“A loss of income, even temporary, can quickly ripple out to touch nearly every aspect of peoples’ lives, and the lives of their families and dependents. But the court’s analysis must be guided by the law, not by its sympathy,” the judge said.
United Airlines Failed To Accommodate Vax Exemptions, Claims Class Action Lawsuit
United workers filed a class action lawsuit against their employer in September, arguing the company failed to properly accommodate those who were given religious or medical exemptions from the vaccine mandate, which the company announced in August.
The judge had previously granted the workers with religious or medical exemptions a temporary restraining order against being placed on indefinite unpaid leave. The order expired earlier this week, however.
Employees have argued that United Airlines is violating the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In a similar case, a federal appeals court undid a temporary injunction earlier this week that had been given to New York healthcare workers wanting to opt out of following the state’s vaccine mandate.
Do you believe United Airlines is wronging its exempt unvaccinated employees by placing them on indefinite unpaid leave? Let us know in the comments!
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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