CV NEWS FEED // Southwest Airlines this week returned to an appeals court to challenge a ruling in favor of a pro-life longtime flight attendant who won over $800,000 in a lawsuit after the company fired her for sending controversial messages to a union leader.
Several judges with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on June 3 about Carter v. Southwest Airlines, a case that started in 2017.
Charlene Carter had worked as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines for over 20 years before she was fired, according to a court document Justia US Law published.
In January 2017, Audrey Stone, who was president of the Southwest flight attendants union party at the time, and other Southwest flight attendants attended the Washington D.C. Women’s March. The group flew a flag at the March identifying themselves as “TWU Local 556 Working Women’s Committee, The Union of Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants.”
According to the court document published by Justia US Law, “The union used dues and fees to pay for union expenses associated with the Women’s March.”
Carter, a pro-life Christian, sent Stone several messages over Facebook expressing her disapproval of the participation in the March because of the March’s ties with pro-abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
According to court documents, Carter sent Stone content over Facebook depicting aborted children and a message reading: “This is what you supported during your Paid Leave with others at the Women’s MARCH in DC….You truly are Despicable in so many ways…by the way the RECALL is going to Happen and you are limited in the days you will be living off of all the [Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants]..cant wait to see you back on line.”
Stone reported Carter’s messages to Southwest Airlines, who later fired Carter in March 2017, arguing that she violated the company’s policies. Carter sued Southwest Airlines and the union shortly after.
According to a June 3 article by the Associated Press News, Carter’s attorneys argued in briefs that “firing her violated federal law shielding employees from religious-based discrimination and that Southwest management and the union, which complained about Carter’s messages, should be held liable for her firing.”
In July 2022, a court ruled in favor of Carter, ordering Southwest to reinstate her. The court also initially awarded Carter more than $5 million, according to FOX Business. In December 2022, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr lowered the award to $810,180 in compliance with national law limitations for payments of this kind, according to LiveAction.
Southwest lawyers were also ordered to take a religious liberty training course created by free speech legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, according to AP News.
On June 3 during oral arguments, Appellate Judge Corey Wilson said “the key question in the case was how an employer should balance allowing actions such as Carter’s messages, while also not creating a hostile workplace for other employees,” according to AP News.
AP News also reported that the oral arguments on June 3 did not discuss the religious liberty training, but Southwest intends to appeal that order as well.
