Our Story Series Episode I
Our first story features a wonderful person who loyally served a company she loved. She has bravely stepped forward to share her experience. It is our pleasure to introduce our plaintiff, Aimée. In her own words, this is her Story.
My name is Aimée, and I became a Flight Attendant with Continental Airlines in 1985. In 2010 Continental Airlines merged with United Airlines. I have loyally served both companies for 40 years. This is my story about standingup to United Airlines. United needs to be held accountable for mandating the Covid 19 “vaccination” in 2021. They threatened to fire me, forced me onto unpaid leave and belittled my beliefs. United not only allowed harassment and intimidation in my work place, they perpetrated it.
On August 6, 2021, after 36 years as a Flight Attendant, I was sent a letter by my employer, United Airlines, stating that I must take the Covid 19 vaccine, or be fired. United mandated that all employees based only in the United States receive the Covid 19 vaccine or be terminated. I had already done my research and I knew I did not want to take the drug. I believed the vaccine went against my personal and religious beliefs. I didn’t want to put something in my body that changed my God given genetic structure. I also was terrified to take a drug that had not been fully tested and only authorized by the FDA under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
Meanwhile, I contracted Covid in September of 2021. I was sick for about 7 days but I never felt as if I was in any danger of being hospitalized or worse. It was like a bad case of the flu and I fully recovered. I took numerous blood tests, one at the United clinic in Newark Airport, to prove I still had the antibodies, which I did. After all, we were told the whole premise of taking the Covid shot was to build up antibodies in our bodies to protect us from the virus. But United would not allow a medical exemption for naturally developed antibodies or natural immunity. I prayed about this when the EUA came out. I prayed about this again when the media was pushing the shot. And I prayed about this when United threatened my employment. My conviction never wavered. My beliefs were so inviolable that I was willing to accept termination rather than allow myself to be injected.
United never mandated passengers to have the vaccine. United didn’t mandate their employees in other countries to take the Covid 19 vaccine. Only US based United employees were being forced to comply, with threat of termination. What was the real point? It was baffling to me.
I spent hours researching and connecting with other United employees who had the same convictions. Those of us that were standing our ground against the mandate found each other. We sought each other out, made social media groups and gave each other strength to fight against this tyranny. I discovered that I could apply for a Religious Exemption. There is a law called Title VII, which prohibits an employer from discrimination based on religion. This process was a ridiculous amount of paperwork. United even made me include a letter from a witness substantiating my “religious beliefs.”
During the process of waiting for my termination or exemption I was still allowed to fly for a brief time. I was ridiculed at work, threatened, intimidated, humiliated, and wished death upon by fellow United employees. Those of us that were filing for religious exemptions were even put on a list by our peers, and that list was circulated among our co-workers. I reached out to my union, Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) and United Airlines HR to help against the harassment, but no one considered this worthy of looking into. Thus, it continued. United failed to protect me from this abuse at work. Instead, they appeared to condone and encourage this malevolent treatment. To this day my vaccination status is fodder for ridicule amongst my peers.
At one point unvaccinated United employees were ordered to wear N95 masks while at work and on United property. Not only did I feel branded, but my health was affected. As a Flight Attendant, some of my duty days were up to 18 hours. Those long hours, on an airplane, in an environment with recirculated air, wearing a N95 mask was brutal. I suffered bloody noses, headaches, memory issues, and lightheadedness as a result of wearing the N95 mask.
I was eventually awarded the Title Vll Religious Exemption. However, without engaging in any personal discussion with me regarding how I could fulfill my duties as a Flight Attendant, United Airlines decided that my Reasonable Accommodation would be an Unpaid Leave of Absence with not even a hint of when I could be allowed to return. Basically, an indefinite leave was implied. So, on November 15, 2021 I was essentially fired and placed on an Unpaid Leave of Absence. After 36 years of loyal service, I was stripped of everything. I was unable to work and earn and income. I lost all my benefits. I was not allowed to tap into my 401K. I was not allowed to retire. I lost vacation accrual. I was being punished and my life was turned upside down because of my religious beliefs.
My blood pressure skyrocketed during these months and I was put on medication as a result. I could not sleep, cried for hours, had panic attacks, and had an overwhelming feeling of isolation. There were many days when I literally could not get out of bed. The joy was gone. I sought professional help. I had to dig myself out of my depression. I couldn’t let this horrible state of mind keep me from living and appreciating my wonderful life I’d been given. I had weekly phone calls and I was prescribed additional medication. I slowly started getting back to my old self. But it took months. The whole time I was thinking, why would United Airlines, a company I was so loyal to, do this to me?
United Airlines arbitrarily, and abruptly, changed their Covid 19 vaccine policy in March of 2022. Flight Crews that were essentially fired and on Unpaid Leave of Absence were required to return to work March 28, 2022 or face termination again. I was happy to return to the job I loved until I read the caveat that United could place us on Indefinite Unpaid Leave again at anytime and without any notice. It was unbelievable. I had no choice, I went back and stress every single day that my employment is in a constant state of limbo. In addition to this, unvaccinated crew members were restricted, by United, on the routes we were permitted to fly. I was forbidden to work on flights to 25 countries of United’s choosing. These countries themselves did not have any restrictions for non-vaxxed passengers or crew. This prevented me from earning the wage I earned prior to being put on unpaid leave. This was further punishment by United Airlines to inflict immeasurable stress and suffering on me and my fellow unvaccinated crew members.
It was ironic because I could fly to United’s “unvaccinated crew restricted” countries using my United employee passes, as a passenger, if I chose. United Airlines did not require any passengers to be vaccinated to fly to these destinations.
Through all my networking and the secret social media group I started, I was blessed to find this group of like minded employees who, like me, were willing to stand up for our beliefs and bring forth a lawsuit to hold United Airlines accountable for the way they violated our constitutional rights and religious beliefs. It has been a huge financial and emotional burden. I'm proud to be a part of our operation Wings For Liberty and Justice and our small but mighty group we have named Gideon's Army. We will prevail in this fight to bring accountability to United Airlines.