United Airlines employees file first class-action lawsuit over Vaccine discrimination without accommodation

First Class Action Lawsuit Filed for the discrimination by a company ( United Airlines) against its employees, violating the ADA act, by enforcing the vaccine mandate without alternative accommodation

A class-action lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of Texas ( Fort Worth).

United said in August that more than half of its 67,000 U.S.-based employees who weren't vaccinated in August would be forced to get the shot by Sept. 27, but made an exception for those with medical and religious reasons, which employees argue has not been the case.

The six employee plaintiffs say United Airlines has denied accommodation requests regarding the vaccine and instead offered six years of unpaid leave for those wishing not to get the vaccine.

"We filed this lawsuit to protect the rights of honest, hardworking United Airlines employees who have religious or medical reasons not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. United has refused to grant any accommodations and these employees are scared by United’s draconian mandate that forces them to either get the vaccine or lose their job.”

Lawyers argue that under the Civil Rights Act, United must make accommodations for employees, which commonly include requiring masks and testing for unvaccinated employees. Lawyers noted that even the Biden administration's recent vaccine mandate accepts COVID-19 testing as an alternative to getting vaccinated.

"This is not about how effective the vaccines are or whether United may mandate vaccination. The fact is that some people have sincere religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to respect and accommodate those beliefs. United has failed to do this," Paoletta said, adding that some United employees "also have special medical conditions" and physicians' notes not to get vaccinated.

Attorneys from Schaerr-Jaffe, LLP of Washington, D.C., along with attorneys John Sullivan of Cedar Hill, Texas, and Robert Wiegand and Melissa Swindle of Dallas, Texas, are leading the class-action suit.

Even the European Union recognized Immunity acquired through prior infection, and includes testing for these individuals in their certification system, the “green pass”.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.