Federal Court says Southwest Airlines must face lawsuit from pilots’ union

On Monday, a federal court in the US ruled that Southwest Airlines must stand trial, accusing the carrier of illegally intimidating pilots belonging to the pilots’ union. The lawsuit alleged that the airline punished those workers when they became part of a union that affiliates more than 9,000 pilots.

Reuters reported that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 3-0 decision, ruled that the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association cited the Dallas-based airline’s “anti-union reluctance” to allow the conflict to be resolved in federal court.

A lower court judge had previously deemed the dispute to be frivolous and said it should be arbitrated. The case began after Southwest decided to remove Timothy Roebling from his position as a “control pilot,” a special group of about 300 pilots who work closely with management and are involved in training other pilots.

Southwest said Roebling used profanity and that it justified the disciplinary action taken against him, but the union argued that it resulted from his decision to participate in the union’s pilot screening committee.

On a New Orleans-based appeals court panel, Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod agreed with an earlier ruling that it was a minor dispute under the federal Railroad Labor Act. But she noted that the allegations against Southwest that it intimidated test pilots for cooperating with the union and that Roebling’s boss threatened to disqualify him made it a different story.

The judge wrote that these allegations “sufficiently support the union’s contention that Southwest intended to impair or destroy the union’s operational capacity.” In a statement, Southwest said it disagreed with the court’s decision and noted, “We are evaluating our options.”