United pilot Sherry Walker says she is on indefinite unpaid leave over her religious-based vaccine refusal
A United Airlines pilot who refuses to get vaccinated for COVID-19 has claimed that she is on unpaid leave and unable to seek another job due to the company’s strict non-compete clause.
Sherry Walker, 53, the co-founder of advocacy group Airline Employees for Health Freedom, spoke out during a protest against vaccine mandates on Sunday in Washington, D.C.
‘I am out on unpaid leave. I am prohibited from getting another job. I’m prohibited from accessing my 401(k). I have no medical benefits, and I’m leading the charge in this fight, so my days are consumed,’ Walker told the Daily Signal at the demonstration.
When reached by DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for United declined to comment on Walker’s situation.
The airline says that about 2,000 employees were granted medical or religious accommodations during the vaccine rollout, and that workers with the exemptions had the option of continuing to work in a non-customer-facing role.
The company says that only those workers who refused the reassignment were placed on unpaid leave, and that it is working to return them to active status as the overall situation with the pandemic allows.
Walker, the co-founder of advocacy group Airline Employees for Health Freedom, spoke out during a protest against vaccine mandates on Sunday in Washington DC
‘We know that the best way to keep everyone as safe as we can is for everyone to get vaccinated, as nearly all United employees have chosen to do,’ United said in a statement.
‘We have identified non-customer facing roles where accommodated employees can apply and continue working until it is safe for them to their return to their current positions.’
Walker, who could not be immediately reached by DailyMail.com on Wednesday, told Fox Business that she has been prohibited from finding outside work by United’s non-compete contracts.
‘In this case, they have said that no, no outside employment. In fact, you must go through ethics and compliance, and it can’t be a company that we could have … a non-compete’ with, she said.
Walker said she is considered an ‘active employee’ after being put on unpaid leave for not complying with the airline’s vaccine mandate in November.
‘That means that they can call us back with two weeks’ notice at any given time, they can just grab us and pull us back. But because we’re active, we haven’t had a qualified lifestyle change,’ she said.
‘So Schwab, which owns our 401(k) accounts, refuses to let anyone access them,’ added Walker.
On Sunday, thousands attended a ‘Defeat the Mandates’ rally in Washington DC. Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr was one of the organizers.
The anti-mandate demonstration in Washington DC on Sunday is seen above
Public records show Walker is 53 years old. Typically, 401(k) plans can be accessed prior to the age of 59 and a half if the saver is willing to pay a penalty fee, and it is unclear why Walker’s work status would affect her ability to withdraw from her retirement savings.
A Schwab spokesman told Fox that he was unaware of any plan participants who are unable to access their benefits.
‘Schwab Retirement Plan Services administers workplace retirement plans at the direction and discretion of the employers who select us, and according to the rules of each retirement plan,’ the spokesman said.
Walker has previously written that she refused to get a COVID vaccine for religious reasons.
‘I refuse to be complicit in the use of fetal tissue, which was used in the research and development for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and in the deployment of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine,’ she wrote in a guest essay for the Christian Post.
‘This is truly a crisis of conscience that no one should ever face,’ she added.
However, Walker insisted at the rally on Sunday that she was not anti-vaccine, but rather opposed to vaccine mandates, and that she supported the individual right to make medical decisions.
United CEO Scott Kirby credited the mandate for putting an end to the death of employees, after the company had averaged one employee death per week from COVID
United was among the first companies in the U.S. to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all of its employees, rolling out its policy in early August for its 67,000 US-based employees.
Earlier this month, United CEO Scott Kirby credited the mandate for putting an end to the death of employees, after the company had averaged one employee death per week from COVID.
‘But we’ve now gone eight straight weeks with zero COVID-related deaths among our vaccinated employees — based on United’s prior experience and the nationwide data related to COVID fatalities among the unvaccinated, that means there are approximately 8-10 United employees who are alive today because of our vaccine requirement,’ Kirby wrote in a memo to staff.
However, United has faced employee backlash over the mandate, including from Walker’s group, which is backing a lawsuit against the company.
The suit, Sambrano v United Airlines argues: ‘United’s actions have left the Plaintiffs with the impossible choice of either taking the COVID-19 vaccine at the expense of their religious beliefs and their health or losing their livelihoods.’
The lawsuit alleges that the only ‘accommodation’ United has offered exempt employees is indefinite, unpaid leave.
Last month, a split Fifth Circuit panel hearing the suit declined to block United from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate as the case plays out.
The lawsuit is still pending in federal court.
