Southwest Airlines is back in court over firing of flight attendant with anti-abortion views

June 2, 2024

Southwest Airlines is headed back to federal court Monday, seeking to reverse an $800,000 award to a flight attendant who says she was fired for her anti-abortion views.

The Associated Press reports that Southwest claims that Charlene Carter was terminated after she allegedly sent graphic and “hostile” anti-abortion photos to a co-worker, in violation of company rules. Carter was originally awarded $5.1 million by a jury but that amount was later reduced by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr also ordered Southwest Airlines lawyers to take religious speech training from a conservative Christian legal group and to tell its flight attendants that under federal law, it “may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs.”

According to the AP, Southwest Airlines instead told employees that “it does not discriminate” and instructed its flight attendants to follow the same policy it cited in firing Carter.

Three attorneys for Southwest Airlines were ordered to complete eight hours of religious liberty training from the Alliance Defending Freedom which has represented several high profile legal cases involving religious freedom.

Carter’s lawyers said in court briefs that the type of training ordered by Judge Starr “is a commonplace civil contempt sanction.”

Photo: top, Credit: AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File