By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -Southwest Airways should face a lawsuit accusing the provider of illegally intimidating and disciplining pilots who take part in its greater than 9,000-member pilots union, a federal appeals courtroom dominated on Monday.
In a 3-0 choice, the fifth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals stated the Southwest Airways (NYSE:) Pilots Affiliation sufficiently pleaded that the Dallas-based provider had “anti-union animus” to permit the dispute to proceed in federal courtroom.
A decrease courtroom decide had dominated that the dispute was minor, and subsequently belonged in arbitration.
The case stemmed from Southwest’s choice to strip Timothy Roebling of his obligations and pay as a “check pilot,” a particular group of about 300 pilots who work intently with administration and prepare different pilots.
Southwest ostensibly cited Roebling’s use of a vulgarity to justify the self-discipline, however the union stated it resulted from his choice to hitch the union’s verify pilot committee.
Writing for the New Orleans-based appeals courtroom panel, Chief Choose Jennifer Walker Elrod agreed with the decrease courtroom decide that the dispute was a minor matter underneath the federal Railway Labor Act.
However she stated accusations that Southwest made verify pilots terrified of retaliation for affiliation with the union, and that Roebling’s boss threatened to strip him of his {qualifications}, made this case totally different.
These sorts of allegations “sufficiently support the union’s claim that Southwest intended to ‘weaken’ or ‘destroy’ the operational capacity of the union,” she wrote.
Southwest had no speedy remark. Attorneys for the union didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The appeals courtroom returned the case to U.S. District Choose Barbara Lynn of the Dallas federal courtroom, who had dismissed it in September 2023.
The case is Southwest Airways Pilots Affiliation v Southwest Airways Co, fifth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals, No. 23-11065.
