{"id":5882,"date":"2024-01-19T13:02:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T13:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/19\/union-boss-reported-flight-attendants-who-opposed-equality-act\/"},"modified":"2024-01-19T13:02:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T13:02:25","slug":"union-boss-reported-flight-attendants-who-opposed-equality-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/19\/union-boss-reported-flight-attendants-who-opposed-equality-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Union boss reported flight attendants who opposed Equality Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article_content\">\n<header>\n<div class=\"article-byline\"> By <a class=\"reporter\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/by\/jon-brown\"> Jon Brown<\/a><span class=\"quiet\">, Christian Post Reporter <time datetime=\"Friday, January 19, 2024\" itemprop=\"datePublished dateModified\">Friday, January 19, 2024<\/time><\/span><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<figure class=\"img-box align-center center\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><picture width=\"760\" height=\"441\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/images\/cache\/image\/11\/33\/113319_w_760_441.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.christianpost.com\/images\/cache\/image\/11\/33\/113319_w_760_441.jpg\" class=\"type:primaryImage\" width=\"760\" height=\"441\"\/><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption\"><span class=\"photo-des\">An Alaska Airlines plan rides on a runway. <\/span> | <span class=\"credit\">Reuters\/Jason Redmond<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lawyers for two Christian flight attendants who sued Alaska Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants union (AAF) for discrimination <a href=\"https:\/\/firstliberty.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Filed-Pls-MSJ-Alaska-Airlines_Redacted.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed a motion<\/a> for summary judgment this week, detailing the extent of the union&#8217;s involvement.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/airline-fired-employees-who-opposed-equality-act-lawsuit-says.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marli Brown and Lacey Smith<\/a> filed the <a href=\"https:\/\/firstliberty.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Filed-Pls-MSJ-Alaska-Airlines_Redacted.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">motion<\/a> Tuesday after over a year and a half of litigation. The flight attendants <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/airline-fired-employees-who-opposed-equality-act-lawsuit-says.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed a lawsuit<\/a> against the two organizations in May 2022 after alleging that they were terminated from the airline because they raised concerns about its endorsement of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/equality-act-puts-christian-hiring-policies-in-jeopardy-adf.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Equality Act<\/a> on an internal employee message board.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights anti-discrimination laws.<\/p>\n<p>When the company invited employees to comment on their endorsement of the Equality Act, Smith asked on the forum if it were possible for a company to &#8220;regulate morality,&#8221; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/firstliberty.org\/media\/amidst-dei-push-alaska-airlines-fired-flight-attendants-for-christian-beliefs-says-court-brief\/#:~:text=Two%20flight%20attendants%20fight%20back,faith%20on%20internal%20messaging%20board.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">First Liberty Institute<\/a>, the legal group representing the plaintiffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Brown asked whether Alaska Airlines supports &#8220;endangering the Church, encouraging suppression of religious freedom, obliterating women rights and parental rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Their queries reportedly prompted an investigation that ultimately led to their termination, according to the suit. They filed two &#8220;Charge of Discrimination&#8221; complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/alaska-airlines-accused-of-wrongly-firing-2-christian-employees.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claiming the airline<\/a> engaged in retaliation, religious discrimination, and creating a &#8220;hostile work environment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The two also alleged that their union, the AAF, did not adequately represent them amid the fallout.<\/p>\n<p>AAF was also involved in the women&#8217;s termination as AAF Master Executive Council President Jeff Peterson allegedly reported their comments to the leadership of Alaska Airlines seeking repercussions, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p>Union representatives allegedly excoriated Brown and Smith in a company chat for their comments about the Equality Act, with one writing, &#8220;Can we PLEASE get someone to shut down comments, or put Marli and Lacey in a burlap bag and drop them in a well?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Other representatives referred to them as &#8220;bigots&#8221; and &#8220;pukes,&#8221; and Peterson said he hated Smith, according to the suit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Peterson repeatedly referred to Marli and Lacey as &#8216;bigots&#8217;; he drew Alaska Airlines\u2019 attention to Plaintiffs\u2019 comments; he told a friend &#8216;I hate [Lacey]&#8217;; and he told others he supported her discipline,&#8221; the motion reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to First Liberty Institute, Alaska Airlines has not handled allegations of anti-Christian discrimination like they have the complaints against Brown and Smith. The nonprofit claimed that a flight attendant received the lowest level of discipline after being accused of &#8220;hate speech&#8221; and a &#8220;threat of violence&#8221; on his social media, which reportedly displayed the Alaska Airlines logo.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Alaska Airlines has made it clear that employees who hold traditional Christian beliefs must stay silent if they want to keep their jobs,&#8221; Stephanie Taub, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now, we clearly see that Alaska Airlines&#8217; obsessive focus on DEI created a hostile work environment for anyone who dares disagree with the company about moral issues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Equality Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 largely along party lines, though it has since languished after being referred to the Senate for consideration.<\/p>\n<p>The Christian Post has reached out to both Alaska Airlines and AAF for comment and will update this story if they respond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"eoa_freedom_post\">\n<h2><span>Free<\/span> Religious Freedom Updates<\/h2>\n<p>Join thousands of others to get the <strong>FREEDOM POST<\/strong> newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/union-boss-reported-flight-attendants-who-opposed-equality-act.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Friday, January 19, 2024 An Alaska Airlines plan rides on a runway. | Reuters\/Jason Redmond Lawyers for two Christian flight attendants who sued Alaska Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants union (AAF) for discrimination filed a motion for summary judgment this week, detailing the extent of the union&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5882"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}