By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A split U.S. appels court rejected a request from six employees to stop United Airlines from imposing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate on workers. This mandate imposes an unpaid leave requirement for those granted medical or religious exceptions.

The panel from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to reject Monday’s emergency request for an interim injunction that would have blocked the mandate. Employees are appealing a Nov ruling of a federal court in their favor.

This case is just one in a series of legal disputes over mandatory vaccines that are required by governments and companies.

United Airlines was the original major airline to require vaccinations. Other airlines followed suit. United Airlines has given around 2000 religious and medical exemptions for employees working in various roles, including flight attendants, pilots, and customer service representatives.

The spokesperson for United declined to comment about the 5th Circuit’s decision.

Judge James Ho (dissenting member on the panel of three judges), sharply criticised the decision. He wrote that vaccine mandates such as the one United is trying to impose here create a crisis for conscience for many Christians.

“To think the earthly rewards of monetary damages can compensate for these deep challenges to faith would be misunderstanding the nature of religious convictions at their most fundamental level. That is true regardless of whether it comes from D.C., or the C-Suite.” Ho added. He was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump to the bench.

A majority of the 5th Circuit panels issued a two sentence order rejecting plaintiffs, citing U.S. district Judge Mark Pittman’s Texas reasoning.

Pittman refuted the argument of United employees that United placed them in an impossible situation by forcing them choose between receiving a vaccine and taking unpaid time off. Pittman was harsh about United’s treatment of employees who requested religious exemptions. However, he said that it was up to the company to decide how human resources policies are implemented and no one was required to get vaccinated.

Plaintiffs in this case argued that they had religious objections about the vaccine. Six employees accused the company of discrimination in employment and retaliation. They claimed that the airline had violated section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, failing to offer reasonable religious accommodation.

The United States has seen a lot of opposition to vaccination mandates. Although courts have upheld these mandates, White House attempts to force large federal contractors or employers to establish vaccine testing or vaccination requirements have been rejected by the courts.

United stated that allowing employees who are not vaccinated to work would compromise the safety of the airline’s flights in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pittman said that the company admitted there were very few chances of COVID-19 epidemics on its planes.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected challenges by Christian nurses and doctors to New York’s decision to deny religious exemptions from its mandate for healthcare workers to be immunized against COVID-19.