United Airlines Pilot Says She’s Blocked From Finding Job Or Accessing 401k For Refusing Vaccine

A United Airlines captain who is on unpaid leave for not complying with her company’s vaccine mandate says she has been locked out of her 401(k) and is prohibited from finding another job.

“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,” United pilot Sherry Walker, co-founder of Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom, told the Daily Signal while attending the “Defeat the Mandates” march in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

Walker told newsmen on Monday that 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. So Schwab, which owns our 401(k) accounts, refuses to let anyone access them,” Walker said.

Walker added that employees in similar shoes have been prohibited from finding other jobs because United has cracked down on non-competes.

“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.

But if Walker were to get another job with an airline, she can’t make lateral moves as a captain because the airline industry has a seniority-based system.

“You start over at the bottom. I can’t be a captain at any other airline in this country. I go back from my six-figure salary, back down to starting probationary pay … pulling gear for some captain,” she said.

United Airlines told newsmen on Monday that there are “non-customer facing roles” for employees who do not comply with the mandate, adding such employees “can apply and continue working until it is safe for them to … return to their current positions.”