WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Six employees of United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) have filed a lawsuit against their employer, citing that the airline is discriminating against its employees through its compulsory-vaccine policy. The lawsuit was filed before a Texas federal judge on Tuesday.
According to the lawsuit, the company did not discuss with employees its vaccination policy and plans to put on all unvaccinated employees on 'indefinite unpaid leave'.
The employees also said that the airlines denied their requests for religious or medical exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine. This denial, according to them, violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The employees who filed the lawsuit hold different positions in the company like pilots, flight attendant and operation staff. According to them, despite asking for exemptions from the vaccine, their demand was denied and they were put on 'indefinite unpaid leave' by the airlines.
Meanwhile, the airlines had said on Wednesday that around 97 percent of its staff were vaccinated against Covid-19. United Airlines, in August, had announced September 27 as deadline date to get vaccinated or to go on 'unpaid leave'. The airline is the first major one to issue compulsory vaccine mandate for its employees.
Commenting on the developments, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that the company had accepted 'most' of the exemption requests and denied only few. Kirby said that some employees have already quit over the vaccine conditions and by the time the deadline approaches, more employees are expected to quit.
Other than United Airlines, no other big airline has issued a compulsory vaccine policy, while some have hinted that some tough rules are in the pipeline. Like its counterparts, United Airlines is not allowing unvaccinated workers to take Covid-19 tests. It had immediately issued the stringent complete vaccination policy.
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