You may have seen media reports today suggesting that Southwest Airlines has caved on its employee vaccine mandate under mounting pressure from flight attendants and pilots. It’s actually much more complicated.
No, Southwest Has Not Caved On Vaccine Mandate, But Has Updated Its Exemption Timeline
It’s true: Southwest Airlines told employees that it will not place unvaccinated employees who were not approved for a religious or medical exemption on unpaid leave starting December 8th, the federal deadline for government contractors.
Julie Weber, Southwest’s Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer, told employees in a memo that they if their exemption request had not been approved, they could continue to work beyond the December 8th deadline while wearing masks and following distancing guidelines.
Employees have until November 24th to seek an exemption. Up until now, Southwest Airlines had told employees that were not exempt would be placed on unpaid leave on December 8th.
But that’s not the end of the story. The memo indicated this would be on a temporary basis until the exemption request was resolved. It also does not apply to those who did not seek an exemption and still refused to be vaccinated.
The Exemption Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge
Pilots and other employees picketed yesterday in Dallas over the mandate. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union that represents AA cabin crews, has assured flight attendants “unlike the approach taken by United, [Southwest is] exploring accommodations that would allow employees to continue to work.” United plans to place employees who have been granted an exception on unpaid leave, though a federal judge has temporarily blocked that move while a lawsuit is pending.
American and Southwest Airlines intend to allow employees who have received an exemption to continue to work, subject to testing requirements currently under consideration.
It continues to be my belief that exemptions will be liberally granted, allowing Southwest and American to “save face” by complying with federal law, while at the same time granting exemptions for “sincere religious beliefs” without deeply questioning such convictions.
There will be some employees who simply refuse to seek an exemption, arguing they should not need to seek an exemption to be spared from a mandatory vaccine. But for the most part, employees will be able to keep their jobs simply by asserting a religious or medical reason for their decision.
CONCLUSION
Contrary to some reports, Southwest has not caved in on the mandate. However, it will no longer place employees on unpaid leave who have an exemption request pending or were recently rejected (and there is no indication that anyone has been rejected).
The takeaway, however, is that Southwest and American are encouraging employees to file for exemptions and unions are aiding this effort, a marked contrast from United Airlines and the unions representing its front-line employees.
Interesting ethics dilemma here. Unions are encouraging employees to make claims that aren’t really true for many (bogus religious and medical exemptions). Anti vaxxers would say that their actions are acceptable because they fundamentally disagree with the mandate; however, I think making a false religious or medical claim at its core is an unethical action.
At the same time, WN and AA are knowingly letting employees get away with making false claims because they either disagree with, or don’t want to enforce the Federal mandate. That too is unethical.
The first paragraph of AA’s standards of business conduct state that every decision they make is an ethical one. The first sentence of WN’s states that they are “committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical business practices and legal and regulatory compliance.” They may want to update those.
Pretty pathetic move by Southwest. When United is clearly leading the way in the U.S., it’s a lousy look for the rest of the Big 3 (or Big 4). The management should become should illustrate leadership – I know, what a concept – to the minimum degree necessary to follow the path that United has already blazed.
Blazing the Skytrax Rankings at 60th best airline in the world! Hey, they moved up 8 spots from last year! That 39th-place Southwest is surely within reach now! United, blazing the path from mid-pack!
Jan, you do realize that SkyTrax “rankings” are bought and paid for by airlines right? There’s absolutely nothing subjective about them and they’re a joke within the industry. But sure, if you use those to make travel decisions by all means…
Oh, right. I forgot that the Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, ANA, Cathay’s of the world are ranked at the top because they bribed their way through the rankings, not because of their superior hard and soft products.
Gosh darn, if they didn’t allow the bribing, United would be in the top airlines conversation! -said literally no one ever
And no mention of Delta. God forbid we tied in the story with another story.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/delta-air-lines-ceo-ditches-divisive-covid-vaccine-mandate
@Jerry
I suggest you read Matthew 7:3-5 KJV before casting aspersions on the motives of the employees of American ,SouthWest ,and other firms seeking exemptions…
I read it, and I fail to understand your point.