Passenger traffic is still down 20% from pre-COVID-19 levels, and airlines have reported another slowdown in ticket sales with the latest virus surge. airlines lost $35 billion last year due to the downturn even after receiving billions in aid and loans from the federal government. The airline industry has been uniquely challenged by the virus. United announced Wednesday that 97% of its employees are vaccinated, compared to 90% that were vaccinated before its mandate. United’s mandate applies to all 67,000 of its U.S. “And we’ve been encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response from employees across all work groups since we announced the policy last month.” employees are vaccinated,” the United spokesperson said in a statement. “The most effective thing we can do as an airline to protect the health and safety of all our employees is to require the vaccine - excluding the small number of people who have sought an exemption, more than 97% of our U.S. United is reviewing the lawsuit, “but at this point, we think it’s without merit,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. It also comes shortly after a White House mandate that all companies with more than 100 employees must require workers to be vaccinated. The lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal maneuvers across the country as both corporate and government entities step up pressure on the public to get vaccines for the COVID-19 virus with the delta variant still raging across the country. The employees are represented by Dallas law firm Stewart, Wiegand and Owens. “United’s actions have left with the impossible choice of either taking the COVID-19 vaccine, at the expense of their religious beliefs and their health, or losing their livelihoods,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said employee requests for religious exemptions were met with “a draconian threat of years of unpaid leave” and amounted to an adverse employment action intended to force them to “forgo their religious beliefs and receive the COVID-19 vaccine.” The employees filed the lawsuit in a North Texas federal court Wednesday, saying that the Chicago-based airline is not taking into account their religious beliefs because CEO Scott Kirby said few personal or religious exemptions would be granted.Ī week ago, United told employees that those who claim religious exemptions would be placed on unpaid medical leave. Eight United Airlines employees based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport are suing the carrier over its vaccine mandate program, the most aggressive in the aviation industry.

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