The EEOC announced this week that United Airlines has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the agency on behalf of a Buddhist airline pilot. According to the EEOC:
[T]he pilot was diagnosed with alcohol dependency and lost the medical certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). One of the requirements of United’s HIMS program ... to obtain new medical certificates from the FAA is that pilots regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The pilot, who is Buddhist, objected to the religious content of AA and sought to substitute regular attendance at a Buddhism-based peer support group. United refused to accommodate his religious objection and, as a result, the pilot was unable to obtain a new FAA medical certificate permitting him to fly again, the agency charged....
Under the consent decree that resolves the lawsuit, United will pay the pilot $305,000 in back pay and damages and will reinstate him into its HIMS Program while allowing him to attend a non-12-step peer recovery program. The company will also accept religious accommodation requests in its HIMS Program going forward, institute a new policy on religious accommodations, and train its employees.
