In a significant win for religious freedom, a U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit accusing the Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic of discriminating against workers who resisted strict Covid-19 vaccine mandates on religious grounds.
The court's ruling allows numerous employees to seek damages for Mayo Clinic's alleged violation of equal employment laws. This decision comes despite the Biden administration's strong push for Covid vaccine mandates in the workplace.
On Friday, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had urged the court to reconsider the claims of former employees Shelly Kiel and Kenneth Ringhofer, among others. The five medical staff members filed the lawsuit after being terminated in 2022, arguing that the hospital's policy requiring employees to either get vaccinated or undergo routine Covid testing infringed upon their religious rights and bodily autonomy.
The complaint alleges that the health care provider violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Minnesota’s anti-discrimination law, both of which are designed to protect employees from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
However, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim dismissed the complaint, asserting that the fired employees had not demonstrated that the Covid vaccine and testing requirements as a condition of employment specifically violated their rights. The judge also ruled that two of the plaintiffs had not exhausted their administrative remedies under Title VII.
In reversing this decision, the appellate court found that Tunheim, who was appointed to the Minnesota federal court by President Bill Clinton, erred in his interpretation of state and federal law. This included his determination that the plaintiffs failed to adequately plead religious beliefs that conflicted with Mayo's Covid-19 policies.
The ruling clears the path for over 100 Mayo Clinic workers and other affected employees to seek monetary damages in U.S. District Court, as stated by attorneys representing the plaintiffs. Depending on the outcome of the restarted lawsuit, countless fired employees who were compelled to choose between their jobs and their conscience could potentially seek legal recourse, the attorneys added.
In September 2021, Joe Biden announced a federal rule mandating employers with 100 or more employees to require workers to either get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing for the virus. However, in January 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the administration from enforcing the mandate, although it exempted health care organizations that receive federal health insurance payments. This decision impacted approximately 17 million health care workers, as reported by ABC News.
The high court also instructed a federal district court in Texas to withdraw its preliminary injunction against the vaccine mandate for federal employees.
Nevertheless, these policies must adhere to civil rights protections, including accommodating religious objections.
Read the lawsuit here.
