Southwest Backs Down: Won’t Place Workers on Unpaid Leave Over Vaccination Status

It’s not an outright change in policy, but more so a softening of the Biden-imposed Dec. 8 deadline which would have put workers awaiting a vaccine exemption on unpaid leave until their exemption was approved. Southwest has decided to instead let those workers continue in their jobs, collecting a paycheck, while their vaccine accommodation request is pending. This policy seems entirely logical, why would they fire loyal employees who wish to remain in their jobs while seeking medical or religious accommodation from the Covid vaccine mandate?

Perhaps it’s more than just Southwest softening its stance, the real issue might be continued challenges with more flight delays and a lack of available workers which could cause another public relations nightmare.

As reports indicate, both Southwest and American are dealing with the fact that they could be soon losing some workers which would cause serious disruptions to their airlines during the busy holiday travel months:

Southwest Airlines has scrapped a plan to put unvaccinated employees who have applied for but haven’t received a religious or medical exemption on unpaid leave starting by a federal deadline in December.

Executives at both carriers in recent days have tried to reassure employees about job security under the mandate, urging them to apply for exemptions if they can’t get vaccinated for medical or for a sincerely held religious belief.

Southwest’s senior vice president of operations and hospitality, Steve Goldberg, and Julie Weber, vice president and chief people officer, wrote to staff on Friday that if employees’ requests for an exemption haven’t been approved by Dec. 8, they could continue to work while following mask and distancing guidelines until the request has been reviewed.

While not an outright victory for Southwest workers seeking an exemption, it is somewhat of a victory to at least be able to keep their jobs while they await their exemption review.

The issue, however, is that some of these exemptions won’t be approved, which means some workers still continue to be on the chopping block if Southwest denies their application for a medical or religious exemption. They just won’t be placed on unpaid leave come Dec. 8 if their application hasn’t been processed yet.

“This is a change from what was previously communicated. Initially, we communicated that these Employees would be put on unpaid leave and that is no longer the case,” they wrote in the note, which was reviewed by CNBC.

Southwest confirmed the policy change, which comes just weeks before the deadline.

American Airlines has announced a similar change is in the works as well to avoid placing workers on unpaid leave while their exemptions are being reviewed:

American Airlines management “indicated that, unlike the approach taken by United, they were exploring accommodations that would allow employees to continue to work,” the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union that represents American’s mainline cabin crews, said in a note to members Monday. “They failed to offer any specifics as to what such accommodations might look like at that time.”

It’s a mini victory for some airline employees, no doubt, but it’s also a reminder that ultimately there will be some workers fired if their exemption request is denied and they refuse to comply with the vaccine mandate. The percentage falling into that category may be small, but it will be impactful on an industry already near the breaking point with stressed crews and a stressed air traffic control system.

The policy moving forward, however, will be for newly hired workers to show proof of vaccination before they start working at Southwest. Essentially the airline will work by attrition to achieve a fully vaccinated staff but will be less insensitive in throwing out their existing workforce for non-compliance with a company Covid vaccine mandate policy that didn’t exist when they started working there years ago.