COVID-19: United Airlines pilots, attendants 'refusing' to fly with unvaccinated staff

United Airlines (UAL) pilots and flight attendants are refusing to work in the confined spaces with passengers, coworkers, and the staff  unvaccinated  against COVID-19 and at least six of its employees have brought a federal lawsuit against the airlines challenging its vaccination mandate and decision of firing the unvaccinated staff or placing them on unpaid leaves. On Tuesday, the United States-based airlines responded to the suit filed in September, last month in a filing accessed by CNN, that said the company “reached an impasse” with respect to those seeking vaccination exemptions on religious or medical grounds. 

Vice president of human resources at United, Kirk Limacher told the network on Tuesday that the majority of pilots at United Airlines has expressed discomfort and their unwillingness to fly unvaccinated passengers or have coworkers onboard that haven’t taken the COVID-19 vaccine shot. "United cannot return the unvaccinated pilots to the cockpit because — aside from the various practical problems with testing and masking — we would face serious and widespread objections from the vaccinated pilots," Limacher’s statement in the filing read on Tuesday, 26 October. 

“The objections among our vaccinated pilots are so strongly held that many of them would simply refuse to fly with the accommodated pilots. The distractions and dissension this would cause in the workforce represent an unacceptable safety risk,” Limacher, vice president of HR at United, in a court filing said. 

'Unacceptable safety risk': asserts United HR; court asks airlines to keep unvaccinated on payroll

United HR representative, meanwhile, clarified in televised remarks that the company’s pilots were absolutely refusing to fly with those that can put others at risk of COVID-19 infection. "The distractions and dissension this would cause in the workforce represent an unacceptable safety risk," Limacher iterated. United Airlines revealed that over 2,000 of its employees have submitted requests for a religious or medical exemption from vaccination thus far, of those, 200 individuals risk getting laid off, CNN has revealed. US Court Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas, had asked those that brought lawsuits against UAL to wait until the case is heard. Meanwhile, prosecutors ordered the company to accommodate the said employees on the payroll until a verdict is reached. The company has asked for permission to put unvaccinated workers on leave, according to CNN.