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Six United Airlines employees are asking a federal judge to block the airline's vaccine requirement set to take effect on Monday. The employees, including two pilots and a flight attendant, are accusing the airline of a "pattern of discrimination against employees who requested religious or medical accommodations. "They say the airline's approach of putting exempt employees on an indefinite leave of absence means "that they would be effectively terminated." The policy, they claim, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and Civil Rights Act. The employees filed a lawsuit this week and asked a federal judge to grant a temporary restraining order preventing the policy from taking effect. Judge Mark Pittman has scheduled a Friday afternoon on the request. Challengers to vaccine mandates so far have not had much success blocking them in federal court.<br/>

United has been fined $1.9m over 25 flights in which the plane sat on the ground for several hours, the largest fine imposed by the government for such long delays. The Transportation Department said Friday that the incidents occurred between December 2015 and February of this year. More than 3,200 passengers were trapped on planes without being given a chance to disembark, the department said. In a consent order, United said most of the delays involved diversions caused by severe weather, when the airline is focused on making sure that planes land safely. The airline said it was a small number of the nearly 8 million operated by United and its United Express affiliates over the five-year span of the violations. United was ordered to pay $950,000. The airline was given credit of $750,000 for compensating passengers on delayed flights and $200,000 for the cost of developing a tool to improve the management of diverted flights.<br/>