Organizations may have to review employee rights policies. This is due to a recent precedent involving a settlement for the denial of religious exemption from flu vaccination. A worker will receive $45,000 in compensation after violating their First Amendment rights.
The case involves an unnamed maintenance worker at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The worker requested an exemption from flu vaccination based on his religious beliefs. In response, the hospital terminated his appointment.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that the same worker requested a vaccination exemption in 2017 and 2018. However, during the 2019 hospital-wide and mandatory vaccination, his request for exemption was turned down, and he was eventually relieved of his duties.
The worker requests the vaccination exemption because he has minimal contact with patients and staff at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). However, the infringement of the worker’s right did not end with a denial of religious exemption but also earned him a job termination. The employee, therefore, decided to seek legal redress through the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
ALSO READ: Halt mRNA Vaccine Use!” Florida Surgeon General Urges FDA, CDC
Thanks to the religious discrimination lawsuit filed by the worker, the EEOC has ruled that CHOA’s conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Going forward, the Commission requires employers to respect the religious beliefs of their employees. If granting such exemptions would not result in obvious hardship for the affiliate organization, the employer has no excuse for violating the religious liberty of employees.
However, some analysts believe that workers may hide under this guise to avoid future vaccinations. Nonetheless, the Atlanta regional attorney for EEOC insists that “it is the responsibility of an employer to accommodate its employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The EEOC has since published a decree stating specific directives about vaccination exemptions at CHAO and other Atlanta organizations. For example, workers with religious reservations will enjoy an exemption from routine vaccinations. Likewise, employees working remotely automatically qualify for such exemptions.
POLL — Do You Support a Single-Payer Healthcare System (Medicare for All)?
However, in cases where the vaccination is inevitable, the employer would have to provide an alternative position in the organization. This may require the organization to move the employee requesting exemption to a non-contact department.
In addition, CHOA will have to train the key employees. Particularly, employees involved in recruitment and human resources management will need to learn about religious accommodation. However, EEOC states that the training can be as simple as signage around the work area to make things easy. “Respect people’s religious rights” is good enough content for such signage.
ALSO READ: Ken Paxton Drags Pfizer to Court for Inefficacy of their COVID Vaccine
The case of the CHOA employee who got a $45,000 compensation is a drop in the ocean. First Amendment activists believe that some employees have to stifle their religious preferences in a bid to keep their jobs. However, it is still a step in the right direction, as it will make employers more considerate of their workers’ rights.
In 2002, McDonald’s had to pay their Hindu employees $10 million in compensation. The fast food franchise did not declare the use of beef tallow in preparing their french fries. Huge settlements like this will make employers sit right concerning their worker’s rights.
You Might Also Like This:
Cities Gas Ban Uncertain As Court Strikes Down Berkeley’s Gas Ban
Man Rejected by the Marine Corps and Navy Is the Most Decorated Soldier in US History
Florida City Officials Resign Days Before New Law Requiring Net Worth Disclosure Comes Into Effect
Colorado Man Accused of Firing Gunshots Inside Supreme Court Building Appears in Court
Memphis 3-Year-Old Boy Killed in Celebratory Gun Fire on New Year’s Eve
