Southwest Airlines is back in court over firing of flight attendant with anti-abortion views

By KEVIN MCGILL
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Southwest Airlines has gone back to federal court in hopes of reversing an $800,000 award to a flight attendant who says she was fired for her anti-abortion views. Arguments were heard Monday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans. Southwest says the flight attendant was fired because she violated company rules requiring civility in the workplace. The airline says she sent “hostile and graphic” anti-abortion messages to a fellow employee. Her lawyers say Southwest violated federal law shielding employees from religious-based discrimination. Southwest is also fighting a related contempt citation from the district judge in the case, who ordered three of the airline’s attorneys to undergo training regarding religious liberty.