Southwest worker wins $1M judgment against union in religious discrimination case

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Nine years after suing, a flight attendant won her case against Southwest Airlines and the Transport Workers Union after she was fired for opposing union dues being used to support pro-abortion activities. She also won $1 million in damages in a lawsuit filed by the National Right to Work Foundation.

The case involves a unanimous jury ruling, a federal judge chastising and sanctioning the airline after it wouldn’t comply with his order, and an appeal to the Fifth Circuit.

Dallas resident Charlene Carter successfully won her case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in July 2022 after suing the airline and TWU Local 556 in 2017. But the case didn’t end there.

Carter sued Southwest Airlines alleging it discriminated against her religious beliefs, violating Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 and TWU Local 556 violated the Railway Labor Act. The jury unanimously agreed, The Center Square reported. She also filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission alleging employment discrimination in 2017 after she was fired for opposing union dues being used to support pro-abortion activities.

Carter, a pro-life Christian who’d been a member of TWU Local 556 since 1996, resigned her membership in 2013 but was still forced to pay union fees as a condition of employment. Although Texas is a right to work state, state right to work laws don’t protect airline and railroad employees from paying forced union fees because they’re governed by the Railway Labor Act. The law allows union officials to have workers fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees.

The case also brought to light how Carter was treated by union representatives in emails obtained by The Center Square. A TWU member referred to her as a “cancerous tumor” that needed to be “eradicated when ever [sic] possible or it spreads,” said she was “incredibly dangerous” and that he was “all about targeted assassinations.”

TWU didn’t respond to a request for comment when asked if it supported what appears to be an incitement to violence against or targeted harassment of employees.

After Southwest lost in court, it issued a notice to flight attendants stating it “does not discriminate” against employees for their religious beliefs, even after a jury unanimously found that it did. It also sent another communication stating employees should not engage in workplace speech similar to Carter’s, prompting Carter to file a motion with the court requesting it to sanction Southwest.

In response, U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr sanctioned the airline and issued a blistering rebuke of its officials and attorneys, The Center Square reported.

After the unanimous jury verdict, the district court ordered Southwest and TWU to give Carter the maximum amount of compensatory and punitive damages permitted under federal law and reinstate her as a flight attendant. She was rehired but did not receive compensatory damages until after a Fifth Circuit ruling.

The airlines and TWU had appealed to the Fifth Circuit and lost. The appellate court affirmed the lower court’s finding that Southwest and TWU discriminated against Carter based on her religious beliefs.

Now, a Satisfaction of Judgment filed with the district court indicates that Carter was paid damages totaling $946,102.87, far less than the $5 million initially awarded to her by the jury. The NRWF told The Center Square that the jury awarding her more than $5 million illustrated “just how bad the jury found Southwest and TWU’s discrimination against her to be.”

“Being a flight attendant is my livelihood and my passion, and union officials tried to manipulate company policy to upend my career simply because I spoke out about my most sincerely held beliefs,” Carter said in a statement. “This case has been a long, hard fight, but I’ll never stop sticking up for what I know is right, and I hope that both my employer and TWU union bosses have learned that it doesn’t pay to stifle flight attendants’ freedom of religion and speech.”

The case is ongoing because the court asked for briefs on the contempt order it issued against Southwest in 2023.

“Ms. Carter was courageous in standing up to protect her religious and personal beliefs from the schemes of radical union officials and a compliant employer. While she is finally receiving compensation for her struggle, no one should forget that federal law still forces workers to accept union ‘representation’ they oppose and, adding insult to injury, forces workers to pay unwanted unions,” NRWF President Mark Mix said.

He also notes that Carter is still being forced to pay union dues 13 years after she withdrew her membership. The NRWF told The Center Square she is paying a reduced amount that excludes dues for politics since she opted out of union membership.

“It is outrageous that, even though the court confirmed that the TWU union and Southwest violated Carter’s legal rights, Carter to this day is still forced to subsidize TWU union bosses or else be fired by Southwest. We hope Carter’s case will prompt a long-overdue conversation about how coercive union boss power infringes on the rights of millions of hardworking Americans,” Mix said.