United Airlines may have to pay over $1 billion in damages for religious discrimination

United Airlines may be forced to pay upwards of $1 billion after a federal court ruled to grant nationwide class action status to over 2,200 employees who were placed on unpaid leave for choosing not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 during the pandemic.

A judge in the Northern District of Texas, fifth circuit, ruled on Friday that all United Airlines employees put on unpaid leave despite having a religious exemption to the vaccine can join Sambrano v. United Airlines, making the case one of the largest religious discrimination class action lawsuits in history.

“I’ve never seen anything this big,” Sherry Walker, co-founder of Airline Employees for Health Freedom, told the Washington Examiner. Walker is one of 2,211 class members on the lawsuit.