United’s ‘disdain’ for vaccine objectors is criticized by judge

A federal judge in Texas blasted United Airlines Inc. for its treatment of employees with religious objections to the company’s coronavirus vaccine mandate, saying its use of indefinite unpaid leave to accommodate the workers is a “trifling pittance.”

While U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth on Monday denied a request by the workers to put the mandate on hold during their lawsuit, he had harsh words for the airline, saying he was “disturbed by United’s seemingly calloused approach to its employees’ deeply personal concerns with injecting a foreign substance into their bodies.”

The judge, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said the treatment is particularly galling because United said in court that 99% of its employees are already vaccinated and “there is virtually no chance to transmit Covid-19 on its planes.”

The airline granted about 80% of religious exemptions, but it revealed inappropriate scorn for the requests, Pittman said. He pointed to a town-hall video in which Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby expressed “skepticism and apparent disdain for any religiously-motivated exemption requests” and said very few would be granted.

“United’s subsequent actions in ‘accommodating’ these employees suggest that United’s actions may not have been motivated by safety concerns,” Pittman said.

The judge said the workers had failed to prove “irreparable harm” from lost income, because the impact of unpaid leave could still be reversed through damages if their lawsuit prevails, the judge said.

“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,” the judge wrote. “But the court’s analysis must be guided by the law, not by its sympathy.”