9th Circuit allows religious bias lawsuit against Alaska Airlines to move forward
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco has revived a religious bias lawsuit brought by two former flight attendants with Alaska Airlines. (Photo from Shutterstock)
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco has revived a religious bias lawsuit brought by two former flight attendants with Alaska Airlines.
In its decision Wednesday, a three-judge panel sided with Marli Brown and Lacey Smith, who claimed that Alaska Airlines fired them because of their religious beliefs and their union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA AFL-CIO, discriminated against them during the airline’s internal investigation.
“We hold that the plaintiffs have demonstrated a genuine dispute of material fact whether Alaska terminated them because of their religious beliefs and whether AFA attempted to cause or acquiesced in their firing on this unlawful basis,” according to the panel’s decision.
The flight attendants were terminated in 2021, after they posted comments on an internal intranet communications network in response to Alaska Airlines’ support for the Equality Act. The proposed federal legislation sought to prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.
“As a company, do you think it’s possible to regulate morality?” Smith said in her comment, according to the decision.
Brown also posted a comment, which included the following: “Does Alaska support: endangering the church, encouraging suppression of religious freedom, obliterating women rights and parental rights? This act will force every American to agree with controversial government-imposed ideology on or be treated as an outlaw.”
The flight attendants claim that their termination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and state anti-discrimination laws. Alaska Airlines has argued that it fired Smith and Brown because they violated the company’s anti-discrimination and harassment policies.
The 9th Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Alaska Airlines and the AFA and remanded the case for further proceedings.
Stephanie Taub of the First Liberty Institute, who represents Smith and Brown, reiterated in comments to Law360 that “it is discriminatory to fire employees for simply expressing their religious beliefs, and that includes religious beliefs related to gender identity.”
Representatives for the airline and union did not respond to Law360’s requests for comment.
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