CHATTANOOGA, TN – Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Tennessee against United Airlines on behalf of a former reservation supervisor who only worked remotely but was unlawfully denied a religious accommodation regarding the airline’s 2021 COVID-19 shot mandate. Former 26-year Contact Center Reservations Supervisor Christina DeBusk, who had no contact with fellow employees, was also denied retirement and fired for her religious beliefs. The religious discrimination lawsuit stems from her religious objections to the use of aborted fetal cell lines associated with the COVID shots.
Liberty Counsel represents DeBusk stating that United Airlines violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating and retaliating against her for not injecting herself with an experimental drug against her sincerely held religious beliefs.
Liberty Counsel is seeking a judgment that declares the airline’s religiously discriminatory actions violated Title VII. The lawsuit also requests Debusk’s reinstatement, or alternatively, front pay that would cover any future wages and benefits she would have likely lost because of the unlawful firing. In addition, the lawsuit requests back pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
This lawsuit, DeBusk v. United Airlines, is a separate case from the nationwide class action suit Sambrano v. United Airlines. In June 2024, a federal judge in Texas granted class action status to more than 2,200 United employees who had received some form of religious accommodation and who were put on indefinite, unpaid leave for choosing not to get the shot. Sambrano is one of the largest class action cases ever filed against a private employer. However, DeBusk’s Title VII case falls outside the scope of this class action suit because United Airlines put unlawful conditions on her religious accommodation request. United required DeBusk to provide verification from a third-party to corroborate her religious beliefs. When she objected to the unlawful demand, United Airlines declared DeBusk was choosing “not to further participate” and denied any further meaningful communication.
“Title VII does not permit employers to condition religious accommodations on third-party verification of an employee’s religious beliefs,” reads the lawsuit. “An employee’s own explanation of her sincerely held religious beliefs is sufficient to trigger the employer’s obligation to engage in the interactive process.”
In addition, United required remote supervisors like DeBusk to get vaccinated but did not require non-supervisory employees to do so. Even though DeBusk had no physical contact with coworkers, customers, or the public, the distinction United Airlines placed on exempting certain employees from vaccination but not DeBusk “operated as a pretext for discrimination rather than a genuine safety measure,” stated Liberty Counsel.
Eligible for retirement, DeBusk then requested to retire rather than be fired over her religious beliefs. Yet, the airline denied that request also.
“After twenty-six years of service, United fired DeBusk—a remote employee with no physical contact with coworkers or customers—because she would not violate her religious beliefs and would not submit to an unlawful third-party verification demand,” the lawsuit reads. “To add insult, at the time of her termination, DeBusk was eligible for retirement. Rather than be terminated for her religious beliefs, DeBusk asked United to allow her to retire. United refused. Instead of permitting a twenty-six-year employee to leave with her retirement benefits and dignity intact, United insisted on terminating her.”
United’s refusal of DeBusk’s religious accommodation and subsequent retirement request, which would have rendered the COVID mandate moot, is a clear violation of Title VII and demonstrates that United’s actions “were punitive and retaliatory rather than driven by any legitimate business necessity,” concluded Liberty Counsel.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “United Airlines violated a fundamental principle of employment law: the duty to engage in an interactive process to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs under Title VII. Rather than have good-faith engagement in the Title VII interactive process with 26-year employee Christina DeBusk, United intentionally and willfully disregarded her rights by terminating her and punitively denied her retirement for refusing to violate her conscience over an experimental injection. Employers cannot force employees to choose between their faith and their livelihood.”
