Southwest Airlines CANCELS plan to fire unvaxxed workers awaiting exemptions after denying sickouts forced mass flight disruption

US airline Southwest has reversed course on its employee vaccine mandate following a week of protests, denials and canceled flights. Workers are no longer forced to take unpaid leave while applying for exemptions to the mandate.The passenger carrier will no longer force employees awaiting decision on a religious or medical exemption to the Biden administration's mandatory vaccine order to take unpaid leave until their cases are decided, according to a Friday memo obtained by CNBC on Tuesday. Sou