The motion for a new trial was entered on Monday by Southwest. They continue to argue that providing religious accommodations for Carter would burden the airline, which they claim their new evidence shows.
“The jury found that Southwest failed to provide Carter a reasonable religious accommodation, and that providing her an accommodation would not impose an undue hardship,” Southwest stated. “These conclusions are unsupported by the evidence and predicated on faulty instructions. Even if Carter had sufficient evidence to state a prima facie for an accommodation-based religious discrimination claim, the court should enter judgment for Southwest because the record demonstrates that accommodating Carter would have imposed an undue hardship,” said Southwest.
The airline also makes an argument that Carter was overcompensated with the reinstatement she received. They claim that the evidence provided does not justify the $300,000 Carter received in both punitive and compensatory damages.
Southwest claims, “There is no record evidence that at [the] time of Carter’s termination, Southwest managers believed their actions violated Title VII. To the contrary they understood themselves to be (among other things) applying policies designed to thwart violations of Title VII.”
