DALLAS — Southwest Airlines, which is based in Dallas, Texas, will no longer put employees who applied for but have not received exemptions for COVID-19 vaccination on leave in December, it was first reported by CNBC.

What You Need To Know

  • Southwest Airlines previously planned to put unvaccinated employees on leave beginning on Dec. 8

  • That plan has been dropped, a report states, and employees who are unvaccinated but seeking a vaccine exemption will be permitted to continue working

  • Because Southwest is a federal contractor, it is bound to the Biden administration’s requirement that its employees be vaccinated by the December deadline

  • The announcement comes after the airline canceled thousands of flights earlier in October. Southwest denies that those cancellations were a result of an employee sickout in protest of the vaccination requirement

Despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the airline is a federal contractor and therefore subject to the Biden administration’s requirement that it ensures all of its employees are vaccinated by Dec. 8 unless they qualify for religious or medical exemptions.

It’s been noted that requirements for federal contractors are stricter than for other businesses. Large businesses, for instance, may require employees to be subjected to weekly testing in lieu of vaccination.  

According to CNBC, Southwest leadership told employees that if their exemption requests aren’t approved by the December deadline, they can continue to work so long as they observe mask and social distancing guidelines.

Employees have until Nov. 28 to be vaccinated or apply for an exemption.

Southwest Airlines earlier in October went through a stretch in which it was canceling hundreds of flights per day, leaving travelers stranded across the country.

The widespread disruptions began shortly after the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, representing 9,000 pilots, asked a federal court to block the airline’s order that all employees get vaccinated. The union argued that Southwest must negotiate over the issue because it could involve sick leave or disability if pilots have a reaction to the vaccine.

“We are not anti-vaccination at all, but our pilots are extremely worried about how their medicals are going to be handled” if they are unable to fly, union president Casey Murray said.

Murray said pilots had not staged a sickout because of the vaccine mandate. He instead blamed the chaos on Southwest’s operation, which he said has become “brittle” and “cracks under the slightest pressure.” He said the airline uses antiquated crew-scheduling technology that leads to cascading disruptions when flights are canceled in one part of its network.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.