Court’s religious training order for attorneys ‘plainly exceeded remedial bounds,’ 5th Circuit says
A federal appeals court ruled last week that a federal judge erred when he required lawyers for Southwest Airlines to attend “religious-liberty training” for failing to comply with a court order.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the required religious-liberty training with the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom “plainly exceeded remedial bounds and sought to punish Southwest’s attorneys,” which is inconsistent with the purpose of a civil contempt order.
Civil contempt orders must be remedial in nature and designed to compel future compliance with a court order, according to the New Orleans-based appeals court.
“When a court’s contempt sanction in a civil matter is both overbroad in scope and undoubtedly punitive in nature, the judiciary risks appearing contemptuous like the contemnor,” the appeals court said in its May 8 decision.
The appeals court ruled in a discrimination case brought by flight attendant Charlene Carter, who was fired after she privately messaged images of aborted fetuses to the president of the flight attendants’ union and posted them on Facebook, the 5th Circuit said. She had objected when some members of the Transport Workers Union of America attended the Women’s March on Washington and claimed their participation showed support for abortion.
Southwest said Carter was fired for offensive, harassing and inappropriate communications.
The appeals court considered the contempt order while upholding jurors’ findings that Southwest discriminated against Carter based on conduct taken in furtherance of her religious beliefs, a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The court also upheld Carter’s religious-related and fair-representation claims against the union.
The appeals court overturned other findings against the Southwest, however, including a finding that the company discriminated against Carter based on her religious views.
After the verdict, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr had ordered reinstatement and back pay for Carter and had ordered Southwest to email the verdict to all flight attendants.
Starr had also ordered Southwest to inform Southwest flight attendants that the airline “may not discriminate” against them for religious beliefs and practices. The airline’s notice instead said the airline “does not discriminate.”
Starr held Southwest in civil contempt for that wording, ordered Southwest to circulate a new statement to set the record straight and ordered the religious-liberty training for three in-house attorneys.
The 5th Circuit said Starr did not abuse his discretion by holding Southwest in contempt.
But the appeals court agreed with Southwest that the religious-liberty training would do little to compel compliance with its order or to compensate Carter.
“The attorneys ordered to attend training were not involved in the decision to terminate Carter, and no evidence offered at trial suggests they demonstrated animus against Carter or her religious beliefs,” the appeals court said.
“Additionally, the training would not be limited to Title VII training but instead was to encompass topics irrelevant to securing compliance with a Title VII judgment. It was plainly not the least-restrictive means of remedying Southwest’s non-compliance.”
The religious-liberty training order was never implemented because of a previous stay entered by the 5th Circuit.
Law360, Reuters, Law.com and Bloomberg Law are among the publications with coverage of the opinion.
The organization that represented Carter, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, called the decision “another victory” for Carter in a press release.
Southwest told Law.com in a statement that the airline “appreciates the 5th Circuit’s careful consideration of the many legal and factual issues involved in this matter.”
The case is Carter v. Local 556. Judge Edith Brown Clement, an appointee of former President Georgie. W. Bush, wrote the panel opinion.
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