NEW ORLEANS — Southwest Airlines is expected to return to federal court on Monday in hopes of reversing a Prize of US$8,000,000 to a flight attendant who said she was fired for her anti-abortion views and a judge’s related order for airline lawyers to take religious freedom training from a conservative Christian legal group.
Southwest argues that flight attendant Charlene Carter was fired because she violated company rules requiring workplace civility by sending “hostile and explicit” anti-abortion messages to a co-worker who was also the local union president.
Carter called the union leader “despicable” for participating in the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., where participants protested the inauguration of then-President Donald Trump and called for the protection of the right to abortion.
Carter’s lawyers argue in briefs that she made it clear to the administration that she sent the material “because she was a pro-life Christian and, as a Christian, she believes she should spread the word to anyone who touches on the issue of abortion.”
They argued that firing her violated federal law that protects employees from religious-based discrimination and that Southwest management and the union, which complained about Carr’s messages, should be held responsible for her firing.
After the trial, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, a Trump appointee who joined the court in 2019, ordered the airline to tell flight attendants that under federal law it “may not discriminate against flight attendants.” board Southwest for their religious practices and beliefs.”
Instead, the Dallas-based airline told employees it “does not discriminate” and told flight attendants to follow the airline policy cited in firing Carter.
Starr found Southwest in contempt in August for the way it explained the case to flight attendants. He ordered Southwest to pay Carter’s most recent legal costs and dictated a statement for Southwest to transmit to employees.
He also ordered three Southwest lawyers to complete at least eight hours of religious freedom training from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which provides training on complying with federal law prohibiting religious discrimination in the workplace.
The conservative group played a prominent role in several legal fights. They include defending a Baker it is a Web designer who did not want to work on same-sex marriage bills, efforts to limit transgender rights, and a challenge to long-standing federal approval of a medicine most commonly used to terminate a pregnancy.
Carter’s lawyers said in briefs that the type of training ordered “is a common sanction for civil contempt” and denied that it interferes with the airline’s free speech rights.
The initial monetary award against Southwest and the union was $5.1 million, most of which was paid by Southwest. The judge, citing federal caps on punitive damages, later reduced them to about $800,000, including $450,000 in damages and back pay from Southwest, $300,000 in damages from the union and about $60,000 in fees.
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