An appeals court panel has partially upheld a lower court decision concluding that Southwest Airlines discriminated against a pro-life employee by firing her for her views opposing abortion but will not require the airlines lawyers to undergo religious freedom training.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Thursday to partly uphold a 2022 jury verdict in favor of Charlene Carter against Southwest and officials from the Transport Workers Union Local 556.
In 2017, Carter sued Southwest and TWU Local 556, accusing the airline of firing her because she opposed some of the union’s political stances on issues like abortion.
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The panel upheld the earlier ruling that Southwest failed to accommodate Carter’s religious beliefs, the airline violated Title VII civil rights law’s ban on religious discrimination, and that the union discriminated against her and wrongfully tried to get her fired.
However, the panel also ruled against Carter’s claim of religious discrimination based on belief, concluding that she was terminated for conduct rather than views. Additionally, the panel rejected a lower court order requiring Southwest attorneys to undergo “religious liberty training.”
Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, a George W. Bush appointee, authored the panel opinion, concluding that such training “would do little to compel compliance with the order or to compensate Carter.”
“The attorneys ordered to attend training were not involved in the decision to terminate Carter, and no evidence offered at trial suggests they demonstrated animus against Carter or her religious beliefs,” wrote Clement.
“Additionally, the training would not be limited to Title VII training but instead was to encompass topics irrelevant to securing compliance with a Title VII judgment. It was plainly not the least-restrictive means of remedying Southwest’s non-compliance.”
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represented Carter during the litigation, released a statement last week celebrating the appeals court panel decision.
“This decision is another victory for Charlene Carter,” said Foundation President Mark Mix. “We are proud to help Charlene defend her legal rights.”
“But her case exposes a bigger injustice in American labor law: that workers can be forced to accept union ‘representation’ they oppose and, adding insult to injury, can be forced to pay fees to that union.”
Mix hopes, “Carter’s victory today will prompt an overdue conversation about how coercive union boss power infringes on the rights of millions of hardworking Americans.”
Carter filed a lawsuit against Southwest and TWU Local 556 after she was fired for expressing her pro-life views, which ran afoul of the union’s stances and reportedly violated Southwest’s “civility policy” for employees.
A jury sided with Carter in July 2022, concluding that she was unlawfully terminated and awarding her $5.1 million in damages against Southwest and TWU.
U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr of Texas, a Trump appointee, reduced the damages payment owed to Carter to $800,000 but ordered Southwest to reinstate Carter to her former position.
The total award was split into $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Southwest, $300,000 in damages from the union, $150,000 in back pay and about $60,000 in interest.
Starr also ordered three Southwest lawyers to take a religious freedom training session organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that specializes in religious liberty cases.
Southwest appealed the decision and in August 2023, Starr agreed to put a temporary hold on the mandated religious liberty training session while the appeal was ongoing.
