United says vaccinated pilots and flight attendants could refuse to fly with unvaccinated coworkers

Almost all employees at United Airlines have complied with the company's vaccine mandate -- and they do not want to fly with unvaccinated co-workers, according to the airline. United is facing a federal lawsuit brought by six of its employees who have applied for a medical or religious exemption to the vaccine mandate. The airline has said that employees with valid requests for exemptions will be placed on either medical or unpaid leave. The employees bringing the suit are challenging the airline's decision to place them on leave. US Court Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, Texas, has ordered United to keep employees who have requested an accommodation on the payroll while the case is heard. But United said in a court filing last week that it's not practical to allow them to keep working, because some vaccinated pilots won't fly with unvaccinated staff. In a separate filing, United said flight attendants have stated they would hold similar objections to flying with unvaccinated coworkers. The company asked for permission to put unvaccinated workers on leave. "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," said Kirk Limacher, vice president of HR at United, in a court filing. "In fact 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."<br/>