GOP senators file bill to reinstate pilots ousted by vaccine mandate

A pair of Senate Republicans filed legislation that would reinstate airline pilots who were fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Many airlines imposed vaccine requirements on their pilots and staff while the virus and its fast-moving variants dogged the skies, notably in 2021. Also, President Biden issued a vaccine requirement on federal contractors, which included many U.S. airlines.

The bill by Sens. Mike Braun of Indiana and Roger Marshall of Kansas would require the Federal Aviation Administration, within 30 days of enactment, to “take such actions as are necessary” to compel airlines to rehire any pilot ousted for violating the vaccine mandate.

“The Biden administration’s ‘jab or job’ vaccine mandates will go down as a dark time in American history,” Mr. Marshall said. “Our legislation seeks to right the wrongs of this administration who forced hardworking American people out of not only their jobs, but their careers.”

The senators’ statement and bill text do not provide an estimate of how many pilots lost their jobs because of the mandate.

In some cases, it was a small percentage of an airline’s workforce. United Airlines, which imposed a mandate earlier than most carriers, told Congress in late 2021 that it fired only six out of 13,000 pilots for refusing the vaccine.

Mr. Marshall’s office said several other pilots quit before the vaccination deadline, something the pilots’ union warned would happen under the policy.

The airline industry, however, cannot afford to lose personnel. It’s suffering from a shortage of pilots, partly due to an aging workforce and early retirements.

“Cosponsoring this bill to restore fired pilots to their previously held jobs is a no-brainer and will help bring this critical industry back to full capacity,” Mr. Braun said.

While few COVID-19 mandates remain, they were a polarizing feature of the pandemic. Governors forced businesses to close or imposed mask mandates in the first year of the virus.

After a promising start to the vaccine rollout, a series of viral variants caused a resurgence in coronavirus transmission, prompting Mr. Biden to resort to federal vaccine mandates even as evidence showed the shots couldn’t stop transmission outright.

The Supreme Court rejected a high-profile mandate that would have required employees at private companies with 100 or more workers to get the vaccine or submit to weekly testing.