United Airlines asked a judge to lift a temporary restraining order on their company's coronavirus vaccine mandate as they claim keeping pilots home on paid sick leave is costing nearly $3million each month. The air carrier claims it was 'forced' to the pilots on paid leave because some employees refused 'to risk their safety' by flying with their unvaccinated coworkers. The restraining order - set to expire today - was put in place after six employees filed a lawsuit against United in a Texas federal court last month. It alleges that the airline 'failed to provide reasonable accommodations' when their requests for religious or medical exemptions to the company vaccine mandate were only granted with unpaid leave. The lawsuit was filed after more than 200 United workers faced termination for not receiving the COVID shot. On Monday, US District Judge Mark Pittman extended the temporary ban until November 8, prohibiting United from moving the employees to unpaid leave or denying any exemption requests because they were filed past the company deadline. United Airlines asked a judge to lift a temporary restraining order on their company's coronavirus vaccine mandate as they claim keeping pilots home on paid sick leave is costing nearly $3million each month On Monday, US District Judge Mark Pittman extended the temporary ban until November 8, prohibiting United from moving the employees to unpaid leave or denying any exemption requests because they were filed past the company deadline Pittman said the temporary restraining order will remain in effect until he decides whether to block the company's vaccine mandate for the remainder of the litigation, Bloomberg reported. United, however, argued the order was 'unwarranted' because the pilots involved in the lawsuit would get 'money damages and retroactive seniority if they ultimately prevail on the merits.' The Chicago-based air carrier claims the order is costing them $1.4million every two weeks, or about $100,000-a-day. Analysts believe the company is 'unlikely' to recoup the lost funds. The loss comes as the airline industry continues to struggle amid the pandemic, which nearly destroyed the business in 2020. United, last year, saw a loss of nearly $7billion as people were not taking flights, although demand for air travel has surged to unprecedented levels as COVID-weary Americans take to the skies, with a further boom expected when the US reopens to international visitors from November 8. The airline, on Monday, told Pittman it planned to start returning unvaccinated workers with exemptions back into customer-facing roles once the spread of COVID-19 subsides. Company leaders claim flight crew members will return to work once nationwide daily case counts drop below 10,000 new cases per day for at least 21 consecutive days. Meanwhile, the pilots who filed the suit argued that vaccinated pilots should 'not know whether they are flying with an unvaccinated pilot' and that 'United should be informing its pilots - as they do the general public - that the risk of contracting COVID-19 on a United airplane is almost zero.' United declined to respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment, saying: 'we'll refer to the court filings.' However, the company previously told the Chicago Tribune it was working to put options in place for the 2,000 employees who sought exemptions to the mandate. These included new testing regimens, temporary job reassignments and masking protocols. The air carrier claims it was 'forced' to the pilots on paid leave because some employees refused 'to risk their safety' by flying with their unvaccinated coworkers United CEO Scott Kirby, however, argued Tuesday that it 'isn't practical' to permit COVID testing instead of requiring vaccines because positive or skipped tests could result in unexpected staffing shortages and route cancellations. Kirby, citing recent disruptions experienced by Southwest Airlines, told CNN Business: 'Imagine if you have thousands of employees on one day calling in and saying, 'For some reason, my test didn't pass.' I mean it is going to be a huge challenge for airlines that are not implementing vaccine requirements.' Southwest was forced to cancel nearly 2,000 flights the weekend of October 8 because they didn't have enough pilots to fly their planes. The air carrier cancelled three of every ten departures it had scheduled. Meanwhile, Kirk Limacher, Vice President of HR at United, has reiterated that besides the health risks associated with returning unvaccinated pilots to the cockpits, the company would also face backlash from other employees that could potentially cause flight disruptions. 'United cannot return the unvaccinated pilots to the cockpit because — aside from the various practical problems with testing and masking — we would face serious and widespread objections from the vaccinated pilots,' said Limacher. 'In fact the objections among our vaccinated pilots are so strongly held that many of them would simply refuse to fly with the accommodated pilots. The distractions and dissension this would cause in the workforce represent an unacceptable safety risk.' Pittman said the temporary restraining order will remain in effect until he decides whether to block the company's vaccine mandate for the remainder of the litigation Two weeks ago, Kirby announced the company had reached 99.7 percent of their employees vaccinated in the six-weeks since announcing a vaccine mandate on August 6. He also defended the company's vaccine mandate - despite Texas Governor Abbott banning all mandates - and claimed the mandate has not disrupted United workforce, including at their Houston hub. United was the first airline to require all employees to be vaccinated. Several airlines have followed in United footsteps, including Texas-based companies American and Southwest Airlines who have both claimed they will ignore Governor Greg Abbott's mandate ban. Abbott's order means American and Southwest could face a $1,000 fine for forcing employees to receive a vaccine because employees could lose their livelihoods. The order is set to protect employees from 'losing their livelihoods' by not being forced to get vaccinated or lose their jobs. Georgia-based airline Delta has not mandated vaccines for employees, but is imposing a $200 monthly surcharge against unvaccinated members and requires them to be tested weekly. Delta has reported that 90 percent of its workforce is vaccinated. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility