Judge Dismisses Vaccine Mandate Suit
A federal judge said Hawaiian Airlines employees challenging the company’s vaccine requirement could sue again after the EEOC has made a final determination.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Hawaiian Airlines’ Covid-19 vaccine requirement brought by seven current and former airline employees, but the judge left the door open for the employees to file suit again later.
In their complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, pilots Robert Anthony Espinosa and Ronald Lum, flight attendants Riki O’Hailpin and Nina Arizumi, aircraft technician Erwin Young, management instructor Puanani Badiang, and customer service agent Sabrina Franks alleged the company violated federal law when imposing a policy requiring employees to be vaccinated against the virus.
The workers argued the airline violated federal law by failing to accommodate their religious beliefs and medical conditions when imposing the mandate. The company requires employees to be vaccinated or take an unpaid leave of absence.
But U.S. District Court Judge Jill Otake ruled the workers first needed to take their complaints to the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, a federal agency that determines whether employees have a right to sue under the federal laws in question.
Otake said the EEOC hasn’t made determinations on the plaintiffs’ claims, so she dismissed the current suit. But Otake said the plaintiffs could file later if the EEOC issues right-to-sue orders.
The order follows a February ruling in which the judge denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order saying they had met none of the four requirements needed for such an order.
