A North Texas federal judge ordered Southwest Airlines on Monday to reinstate a flight attendant after a spat between the flight attendant and her union’s president over abortion rights led to her unlawful termination.
The flight attendant claimed the airline wrongly terminated her for airing her views against abortion. The judge agreed but cut the $5.3 million award initially determined by the jury to $800,000 per federal guidelines.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr ordered Southwest to reinstate flight attendant Charlene Carter, who argued the Transport Workers Union Local 556 violated her rights by firing her after she sent anti-abortion messages to the union’s former president.
Starr, a Dallas judge appointed by President Donald Trump, reduced the jury’s original decision of $5.3 million in damages to $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Southwest and $300,000 from the union. Carter is also to receive $150,000 in back pay and about $60,000 in interest.
“The Court enjoins defendants from discriminating against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs, including — but not limited to — those expressed on social media and those concerning abortion,” Starr wrote in the ruling.
The flight attendant was fired in March 2017 after sending emails and social media messages to former union president Audrey Stone, calling the president “despicable” for attending the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., earlier that year, according to the lawsuit.
The 2017 Women’s March was a worldwide protest that took place on January 21, 2017, one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump. It was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, with over 4 million attendees.
Carter argued that Stone and the union should not support an event that included groups such as Planned Parenthood, an organization known for supporting abortion rights. Carter was upset about Stone and other officials using union dues to pay for attending the march.
“This is what you [are] supporting during your paid leave with others at the Women’s March in D.C.,” Carter said in a Facebook message to Stone. “You truly are despicable in so many ways.”
The union leader did not respond to her messages, but Southwest ordered Carter to attend a mandatory meeting on the issue.
At that meeting, Carter argued that the Railway Labor Act governing labor agreements at airlines protects her right to engage in “protected speech and activity in opposing, challenging, and advocating against Local 556, President Stone, and the union’s activities.”
The flight attendant was represented by the National Right to Work Committee, an anti-union group with a legal team that fights mandatory union membership and dues.
The committee said it chose to represent Carter in the case because the union violated Carter’s religious liberty by supporting pro-abortion groups and causes.
National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix said Carter’s victory should call for national “scrutiny of union bosses’ coercive, government-granted powers over workers.”
“Even after her victory, she and her colleagues at Southwest and other airlines under union control can be forced, as per the Railway Labor Act, to pay money to union officials just to keep their jobs,” Mix continued.
Judge Starr warned the airline not to retaliate against Carter and to send the jury verdict to employees.
Starr also wrote that even after Carter’s victory, Southwest Airlines officials continued to monitor her posts on social media for controversial content.
After ordering Southwest to reinstate Carter, Judge Starr referenced the airlines advertising campaign, according to ABC News.
“Bags fly free with Southwest. But free speech didn’t fly at all with Southwest in this case,” Starr wrote.
Brandy King, a Southwest spokeswoman, said the company plans to appeal the verdict. “Southwest Airlines has demonstrated a history of supporting our employees’ rights to express their opinions when done in a respectful manner,” she said in an email.
The airline is “assessing the requirements of the recent judgment as we move forward with our plans for an appeal,” King added.
