Firing Over Graphic Anti-Abortion Message Constitutional

Southwest Airlines Co. didn’t violate a former employee’s constitutional rights when it fired her in part for sending graphic anti-abortion messages to a union leader, a Texas federal court ruled Feb. 1.

The court allowed the employee’s claims based on retaliation under the Railway Labor Act and religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to continue, however.

Former Southwest flight attendant Charlene Carter was a nonmember objector to Transport Workers Union of America Local 556, and regularly posted in an open Southwest flight attendant Facebook group in opposition to the union’s leadership and policies. After ...