{"id":899075,"date":"2021-10-19T18:43:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T22:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=899075"},"modified":"2021-10-19T18:43:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T22:43:49","slug":"fact-check-did-ceo-gary-kelly-announce-southwest-airlines-will-not-comply-with-joe-bidens-vaccine-mandate-and-will-not-fire-any-employees-over-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-ceo-gary-kelly-announce-southwest-airlines-will-not-comply-with-joe-bidens-vaccine-mandate-and-will-not-fire-any-employees-over-it\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did CEO Gary Kelly Announce Southwest Airlines Will Not Comply With Joe Biden\u2019s Vaccine Mandate And Will Not Fire Any Employees Over It?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">50<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-ceo-gary-kelly-announce-southwest-airlines-will-not-comply-with-joe-bidens-vaccine-mandate-and-will-not-fire-any-employees-over-it%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=899075&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KimTumey\/posts\/4372329476205247\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">viral Facebook post<\/a> shared over 200 times claims Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly announced the company will not be following President Joe Biden\u2019s vaccine mandate and will not be firing anyone over it.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: Misleading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Although Kelly has said the company will not fire employees who do not get vaccinated, he has not said the airline will refuse to follow Biden\u2019s vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Instead, he has stated the company will comply with it.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Southwest Airlines canceled a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/11\/business\/southwest-airlines-cancellations.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">large number of flights<\/a> during the weekend of Oct. 9 due to what the airline described <a href=\"https:\/\/community.southwest.com\/t5\/Blog\/A-Message-from-President-amp-COO-Mike-Van-de-Ven\/ba-p\/132011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in a statement<\/a> as \u201cair traffic constraints\u201d and inclement weather that caused aircraft and crews to be out-of-place.<\/p>\n<p>The cancelations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/10\/11\/1045023145\/southwest-airlines-flight-cancellations-delays\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sparked online rumors<\/a>&nbsp;that they had actually been caused by pilots staging walkouts or sickouts after the airline <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swamedia.com\/releases\/release-66d1c9ae7fd4aa2df09a33d586c3b894-southwest-airlines-complying-with-directive-for-federal-contractors-by-requiring-all-employees-to-become-fully-vaccinated-against-covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced<\/a> employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive an exemption by a certain date, in order to be in compliance with Biden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/presidential-actions\/2021\/09\/09\/executive-order-on-ensuring-adequate-covid-safety-protocols-for-federal-contractors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">executive order<\/a> requiring federal contractors to be vaccinated. Southwest Airlines and its pilots\u2019 union have refuted rumors about a pilot protest causing the cancelations, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2021\/oct\/11\/tweets\/southwest-airline-pilots-union-deny-claims-anti-va\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PolitiFact<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>Kelly, the CEO of Southwest, later appeared on ABC\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0xK4vnx4QCg&amp;t=4s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Good Morning America<\/a>\u201d and CNBC\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2021\/10\/12\/southwest-ceo-when-an-airline-falls-behind-its-hard-to-catch-up.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Squawk On The Street<\/a>\u201d to address the cancelations. Claims have since surfaced on Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KimTumey\/posts\/4372329476205247\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">alleging<\/a> he announced the airline \u201cwill not be following Biden\u2019s mandate and will not be firing anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Kelly has said Southwest will not fire employees over the vaccine mandate, he has not announced the company will refuse to follow Biden\u2019s executive order. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2021\/10\/14\/fact-check-vaccinated-delta-pilot-died-mid-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: A Viral Image Claims Vaccinated Delta Pilot Recently Died Mid-Flight)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vaccine mandate, obviously, is controversial, and it\u2019s not anything that I wish for our company,\u201d Kelly told \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0xK4vnx4QCg&amp;t=4s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Good Morning America<\/a>.\u201d \u201cThis is a government mandate, it\u2019s a presidential order, and we are doing our best to comply with that, according to the deadlines that have been set. We\u2019re not gonna fire any employees over this. We are urging all of our employees to get vaccinated; if they can\u2019t get vaccinated, we\u2019re urging them to seek an accommodation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During his recent \u201cSquawk On The Street\u201d interview, Kelly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2021\/10\/12\/southwest-ceo-when-an-airline-falls-behind-its-hard-to-catch-up.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a> he has \u201cnever been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate.\u201d He went on to say Southwest is working to comply with Biden\u2019s mandate, adding that the objective is to \u201cimprove health and safety, not for people to lose their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Southwest, which is based in Texas, has said it will not follow Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s ban on vaccine mandates, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/national-news\/articles\/2021-10-13\/american-airlines-southwest-airlines-to-defy-texas-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-ban\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. News &amp; World Report<\/a>. The airline <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/10\/12\/southwest-airlines-enforce-vaccine-mandate-employees-515801\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told Politico<\/a> that \u201cfederal action supersedes any state mandate or law, and we would be expected to comply with the President\u2019s Order to remain compliant as a federal contractor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a federal contractor, Southwest Airlines must comply with the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for Federal Contractors. That fact has not changed,\u201d a Southwest spokesperson told Check Your Fact via email. \u201cGary has stated that Employees must submit documentation of their fully vaccinated status or request an accommodation by Nov. 24. Southwest does not want anyone to lose their job over this mandate, and the airline has every intention of working with Employees, as best as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A viral Facebook post shared over 200 times claims Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly announced the company will not be following President Joe Biden\u2019s vaccine mandate and will not be &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-899075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}