Southwest Airlines is back in court over firing of flight attendant with anti
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Southwest Airlines is set to return to federal court Monday in hopes of reversing an $800,000 award to a flight attendant who said she was fired for her anti-abortion views and a judge’s related order that the airlines’ lawyers take religious liberty training from a conservative Christian legal group.
Southwest argues flight attendant Charlene Carter was fired because she violated company rules requiring civility in the workplace by sending “hostile and graphic” anti-abortion messages to a fellow employee, who also was president of the local union.
Carter called the union leader “despicable” for attending the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., where participants protested the inauguration of then-President Donald Trump and called for protecting abortion rights.
Carter’s attorneys argue in briefs that she made clear to management she sent the material “because she was a pro-life Christian, and as a Christian she believes she must get the word out to anyone who touches the issue of abortion.”