United Airlines to Welcome Back Unvaccinated Employees to Their Jobs Starting March 28
United Airlines has announced a new change within their company, with a memo allowing unvaccinated workers to return to their jobs starting March 28.
United Airlines has been known to be one of the companies that imposed one of the strictest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, according to a CNBC News report.
United earlier said that around 2,200 workers who received medical or religious exemptions would go on unpaid leave or be moved to non-customer-facing roles.
The airline company sought to vacate the ruling that was upheld by a federal judge in Texas, as well as dismiss the appeal that was filed in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month.
The company came with the decision due to the lessening severity of the pandemic and its new policy.
United said in a court filing that due to the changed circumstances, the plaintiff's preliminary injunction motion is moot and the Court should vacate the panel opinion and dismiss the appeal.
The company's vice president of human relations, Kirk Limacher, said in the memo that the United was taking the step as it expects COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to continue to drop over the next few weeks, according to an Aljazeera News report.
Limacher said that if another variant emerges or the COVID trends suddenly change course, the company will have to reevaluate the right safety protocols at that time.
Last year, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has pushed the mandate as a critical safety measure, with that United became of one of the most visible U.S. corporations to enforce a vaccine requirement.
The company said that around 97 percent of its 67,000 U.S. workers hot the shots while around 200 were terminated.
Meanwhile, the company spokeswoman said that the airline still mandates new employees to be vaccinated.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
More than half the states are having renewed legal challenges against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for millions of healthcare workers across the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID.
Medicare and Medicaid providers' vaccine requirement was one of the several mandates the Biden administration imposed on private-sector employers.
Opponents are trying to stop the enforcement of the mandate, arguing that the situation has changed as cases tied to the Omicron variant have decreased.
Biden's vaccine mandates were challenged in court by Republican-led states, conservative groups, as well as other businesses.
Their lawsuits argued in part that the mandates had exceeded federal executive powers, as well as infringing on states' rights to regulate public health issues, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Biden's health worker vaccine mandate was also being challenged by several lawsuits filed by Republican-led states, mostly in groups.
Health workers were mandated to have their first dose of the vaccine by January 27.
The COVID-19 mandate for large business was also challenged by 27 Republican-led state governments, with some conservative and business groups.
Meanwhile, the federal contractor mandate lawsuit is currently facing a hold on its ruling.
READ MORE: CDC Recommends Shorter COVID Isolation Period for Health Care Workers Amid Omicron Variant
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: More than half of previously unvaccinated United Airlines employees got shots after mandate - from CNBC Television