Charlene Carter v. Southwest Airlines Company

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Case overview

Case Number:

23-10836

Court:

Appellate - 5th Circuit

Nature of Suit:

3740 Railway Labor Act

Companies

Sectors & Industries:

  1. June 20, 2024

    4 Discrimination Cases To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2024

    Software vendor Workday is battling a suit over its artificial intelligence tools, Tesla is preparing for a sweeping race discrimination trial, lawyers for Southwest Airlines hope to dodge court-mandated religious bias training and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is defending its new pregnant worker rule. Here are four discrimination cases lawyers should keep an eye on in the latter half of 2024.

  2. June 07, 2024

    Southwest Attys Get Pause On 'Punitive' Religious Training

    In finding Friday that an order for several in-house Southwest Airlines attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" should be permanently placed on hold while an appeal of a flight attendant's Title VII trial win is pending, the Fifth Circuit said the district court had likely exceeded "the scope of the court's civil-contempt authority."

  3. June 03, 2024

    5th Circ. Mulls Acts Vs. Belief In Anti-Abortion Worker's Firing

    The Fifth Circuit on Monday seemed torn over whether it should "split hairs" between religious conduct and religious belief as it weighed whether to uphold a Southwest flight attendant's win in a wrongful termination suit over graphic anti-abortion messages she sent her union president.

  4. May 31, 2024

    4 Argument Sessions In June Bias Lawyers Should Know

    A group of Republican state attorneys general will urge a federal judge Monday to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to block regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and the Fifth Circuit will hear Southwest Airlines’ push to overturn an anti-abortion former flight attendant's win in her religious bias suit. ​​​​​Here are four June argument sessions discrimination lawyers should have on their radar. 

  5. January 30, 2024

    Southwest Says It Fired Flight Attendant For Actions, Not Beliefs

    Southwest Airlines Co. says it fired a flight attendant for her conduct rather than her beliefs after she sent a co-worker anti-abortion text messages, telling the Fifth Circuit on Monday she won the case because of incorrect jury instructions.

  6. November 30, 2023

    Ex-Southwest Worker Says Religious Bias Win Should Stand

    There's no reason to overturn a jury win for an anti-abortion former Southwest flight attendant who accused the airline of religious bias, or an order requiring Southwest's counsel to attend religious bias training, the ex-worker told the Fifth Circuit.

  7. October 31, 2023

    Anti-Abortion Airline Worker's Firing Not Our Call, Union Says

    A union told the Fifth Circuit it shouldn't have to face a former Southwest Airlines flight attendant's religious bias suit claiming she was unlawfully fired after she sent pictures of aborted fetuses to her local union president, arguing that it had no say in the airline's call to fire her.

  8. October 20, 2023

    Southwest Religious Ruling Misreads Title VII, 5th Circ. Told

    An airline industry group urged the Fifth Circuit to overturn a court order for Southwest Airlines to rehire a worker who sent pictures of aborted fetuses to a co-worker when protesting a union action, arguing federal law doesn't let workers use their religious beliefs to harass colleagues.

  9. October 13, 2023

    Court's Religious Training Edict Errs, Southwest Tells 5th Circ.

    Amid its appeal of a Texas federal court ruling in favor of a flight attendant who claimed her firing was a Civil Rights Act violation, Southwest Airlines is also urging the Fifth Circuit to toss a district court sanction ordering three of its in-house attorneys to undergo "religious-liberty training."

  10. September 26, 2023

    5th Circ. Puts Hold On Religious Training For Southwest Attys

    A day before the court-ordered deadline for Southwest Airlines' lawyers to undergo "religious liberty" training in a flight attendant's suit, the airline convinced the Fifth Circuit to temporarily pause the sanction while the court considers whether to stay the decision pending Southwest's appeal.