(Washington) A US judge ruled Monday in favor of United Airlines, which was attacked by employees for offering them leave, but unpaid, in order to avoid being subject to the vaccination requirement due to their exemption medical or religious.
This decision comes as a US federal court of appeal on Saturday inflicted a setback on US President Joe Biden, by suspending the vaccine obligation just announced, in particular for employees of companies with more than 100 employees.
United Airlines, for its part, announced on August 6 that its employees should be vaccinated, under penalty of being made redundant.
“It is not for the court to decide whether United’s vaccination obligation is bad policy,” said Mark Pittman, a Texas judge, in his decision released on Monday, and consulted by AFP.
It was on a very specific point that he was called upon to pronounce: the leave offered by United Airlines to employees who benefit from an exemption for religious or medical reasons, for as long as necessary, but who do not is not paid.
However, the judge considered that the elements were insufficient to demonstrate the “imminent and irreparable damage” that these employees say they are suffering.
“The Court is faced with the difficult task of arbitrating between individual freedoms and the ability of a company to make its decisions,” noted Mark Pittman.
He thus underlined that “the plaintiffs also maintain that United caused them irreparable harm by” simply forcing them to choose between their livelihood and their right to live their faith in the absence of undue hardship on the part of their employer. ””.
However, he ruled, “the difficulties arising from the loss of income are reparable”, and that, consequently, “such hardships cannot be qualified as irreparable”.
United Airlines had indicated that of the approximately 67,000 employees of the company, about 2,000 requested an exemption, religious for two thirds, medical for a third.