Alaska Airlines employees fired for questioning Equality Act support can continue legal battle
An appeals court panel has revived a lawsuit by two flight attendants who accused Alaska Airlines of wrongfully firing them after they questioned the company’s support of the Equality Act, a federal LGBT nondiscrimination bill.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled last week that the lawsuit filed by Marli Brown and Lacey Smith held merit and remanded the case to the lower court level for further proceedings. Brown and Smith filed the complaint in 2022, alleging that the airline discriminated against their religion when they questioned the LGBT advocacy of the company.
Judge Daniel Bress, a Trump appointee, authored the majority opinion, writing that “the plaintiffs have demonstrated a genuine dispute of material fact whether Alaska terminated them because of their religious beliefs and whether [Association of Flight Attendants-CWA AFL-CIO] attempted to cause or acquiesced in their firing on this unlawful basis.”
“Alaska argues that by plaintiffs’ logic, an employee could make discriminatory and harassing statements and escape discipline by claiming the comments were religiously motivated,” Bress continued.
“That concern is misplaced. There is no dispute that an employer can punish discrimination and harassment, even if it is religiously inspired. … But adverse employment actions made on the basis of the religious beliefs themselves are improper.”
Circuit Judge Morgan Christen, an Obama appointee, authored an opinion that concurred in part and dissented in part. While agreeing with the majority that “both plaintiffs demonstrated a genuine dispute of material fact” on certain points, she did not believe Smith specifically had “demonstrated a genuine dispute of material fact about whether Alaska terminated her because of her religion.”
Christen believes that the airline “would have had to be clairvoyant to know that Smith considered the statement she posted on the company’s internal website to be an expression of her faith because the statement itself gave no hint that it was religiously motivated and Smith did not claim that it was an expression of her religion when Alaska interviewed her during its investigation.”
“Smith did not argue that Alaska’s termination decision constituted religious discrimination until a month after she was fired,” she continued. “Alaska had ample reason to terminate Smith even after she gave notice that she considered the statement to be religiously motivated because an employee may not rely on her religious beliefs as a shield if her conduct or actions otherwise constitute harassment of other employees in the workplace.”
Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, who argued the case on behalf of Smith and Brown last August, said she is grateful for the decision.
“We are grateful the court recognized the clear evidence of religious discrimination against Marli and Lacey by both Alaska Airlines and the flight attendants’ union,” stated Taub in a statement.
“The Ninth Circuit’s decision today reinforces that federal civil rights laws protect people of faith from discrimination by their employer or their union. You cannot be fired because your employer does not like your religious beliefs.”
Alaska Airlines is one of around 400 businesses that have urged Congress to pass the Equality Act, and is listed as part of the Business Coalition for the Equality Act.
Supporters of the Equality Act have argued that it's necessary to protect LGBT individuals in the workplace, while critics have argued that it would create a hostile environment for business owners who hold traditional views on marriage and gender roles.
In February 2021, Alaska Airlines posted to the Alaska’s World, an internal communications network, announcing its support for the Equality Act and allowing comments from employees.
When Brown and Smith both posted comments critical of the decision, the airline investigated them and eventually terminated their employment.
FLI filed two “Charge of Discrimination” complaints in August 2021 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Smith and Brown.
The EEOC granted the two former employees “Notices of Right to Sue” in March 2022, and they proceeded to file a complaint against Alaska Airlines in May 2022.
In May 2024, U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein of the Western District of Washington ruled against Brown and Smith, writing that “Alaska's decision to fire Brown and Smith based on their comments is not direct evidence of religious discrimination.”
“The seriousness with which Alaska treated Plaintiffs' infractions is reasonable (and does not suggest discriminatory animus) in particular given the unique nature of Alaska's business, which requires employees to work in extremely close quarters, under stressful circumstances that can implicate the very lives and safety of both employees and customers,” Rothstein ruled.
“Alaska's discipline of Plaintiffs, whose remarks were reasonably perceived at the very least to have been made in opposition to the company's support for LBGTQ rights, can be explained as a rational business decision, devoid of any anti-religious bias.”
