Appeals court rules in favor of two Christian flight attendants who claim discrimination

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of two flight attendants, Lacey Smith and Marli Brown, who claim they were wrongfully terminated from their positions at Alaska Airlines, and discriminated against by the flight attendants’ union, because of their faith-based responses on an employee-only online network. 

In 2021, Alaska Airlines fired flight attendants for questioning its support of a proposed federal law that would open women's spaces to biological males, according to complaints filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).Their union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, allegedly refused to defend their Title VII employment rights against religious discrimination during the proceeding and "disparaged" the employees' Christian beliefs.

In Wednesday's opinion, the judges stated that in the case of Brown, the airline "was fully aware that some would object to the Equality Act for religious reasons. That Alaska created a forum for employee discussion on controversial issues, then fired Brown after she made religious objections of the kind Alaska anticipated, provides a further reason for regarding this case as presenting a genuine dispute of fact on the reason for Brown’s termination." 

In the case of Smith, the judges said that "a reasonable jury could conclude that these descriptions of Smith’s post are overwrought or inaccurate, and thus pretextual, especially given that Smith made her comment in an open employee forum in which Alaska invited employees to explore ‘our differences.’” 

“We are grateful the court recognized the clear evidence of religious discrimination against Marli and Lacey by both Alaska Airlines and the flight attendants’ union,” Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute, said in a statement. 

Just the News has reached out to the airline and the union for comment.