Appeals court dismisses case against pilots’ union over COVID shot mandate

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined to reinstate a lawsuit against a union representing United Airlines pilots who were fired over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and alleged that their representatives breached a duty.

In affirming an earlier dismissal by a federal district court, the appeals court wrote in Kevin Wickstrom v. Air Line Pilots Association, International that the plaintiffs fail to allege bad faith and that their complaint “repeatedly asserts” that the association and United “colluded” to implement the vaccine mandate, “but we need not accept as true such a conclusory label, and no well-pleaded factual allegations support it.”

The plaintiffs also alleged that the association switched positions on the permissibility of a vaccine mandate, of which the record failed to prove, according to the ruling.