100 results for 'cat:"Covid-19" AND cat:"Employment Discrimination"'.
J. Merchant dismisses a Middle Eastern employee’s retaliation claims against a Brooklyn health care provider, finding that filing complaint she made against her supervisor, for forcing her to work near an employee who tested positive for Covid-19, is not protected activity for purposes of a retaliation claim. The court however preserves her discrimination claims, finding she provides enough detail to allege she faced differential treatment because of her national origin.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Merchant, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3313, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Bernal finds in favor of the management consulting company on the camera operator's complaint alleging that he was fired for not submitting proof of getting a Covid-19 vaccination after it denied his religious exemption to the vaccine. The camera operator argues that the company did not accommodate his religious beliefs, but allowing him to continue working without receiving the vaccine "would have exposed [his] co-workers to a greater risk of Covid-19 infection" and put his co-workers' lives in danger.
Court: USDC Central District of California, Judge: Bernal, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 5:22cv2220, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, covid-19, employment Discrimination
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the lower court properly found for the state employer, which denied employees' applications for religious exemptions from the Covid-19 mandate. The vaccine mandate was rationally related to the state's goal of slowing the spread of Covid-19, and petitioners failed to provide supplemental information regarding their religious beliefs. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: 02012, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Gillmor dismisses a complaint by a former government accusing her union of filing a grievance on her behalf when she was fired over Covid-19 vaccination requirements. The employee does not make any direct claims of religious or otherwise discrimination that led to the union not filing. The employee’s complaint is more focused on her actual employer, who is not a defendant, and barely addresses the union’s role.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Gillmor, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv335, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, Labor / Unions
J. Nachmanoff grants the hospital's motion for summary judgment. The employee claimed the hospital's the COVID-19 vaccination requirement violated his religious beliefs concerning abortion, which prevent him from taking any product developed or tested using aborted fetal cell lines. However, the hospital had approved use of the Novavax vaccine that does not contain fetal cell lines.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Virginia, Judge: Nachmanoff, Filed On: April 15, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv132, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, First Amendment
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J. Aiken dismisses the substitute teacher's complaint that the school district fired him for not receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. The substitute teacher claims that the school district violated his religious rights by firing him, but he does not show how the earlier deadline for reporting on vaccination status is discriminatory, nor does he present evidence of any pretext for discriminatory termination.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Aiken, Filed On: March 31, 2024, Case #: 6:23cv688, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Seabright partially dismisses parts of a wrongful termination suit against the orchestra and the musicians’ union by a former flutist with the orchestra, which fired her after she did not get a Covid-19 vaccine. The flutist’s claim that the union aided and abetted the firing is preempted by labor laws. In claims against the orchestra, claims related to religious and disability accommodations are not dismissed, as the orchestra did not engage in an interactive process with the flutist who attempted to bring evidence of her religious beliefs and documented sensitivity to vaccines to the orchestra before her firing. Retaliation claims do partially survive though, as the flutist was subject to adverse action without even going through the interactive process.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Seabright, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv415, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Ballou grants the clinic's motion to dismiss. The employee brought this employment discrimination action against his former employer and its associate general counsel, alleging unlawful termination, retaliation, and harassment for seeking a religious exemption from the employer’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement. The employee received a write-up for drafting the religious exemption request during work time, a written warning for attendance and failure to comply with guidelines on January 4, 2022, a final written warning on January 19, 2022, for attendance, and termination on March 23, 2023, for use of profanity in a conversation with a supervisor. The employee has not made factual allegations that he is a protected class member and asserts no facts regarding his religion or the nature of his sincerely held religious beliefs.
Court: USDC Western District of Virginia, Judge: Ballou, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 7:23cv7, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Seabright refused to completely dismiss an employment suit against the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra by its former bassist, who said his termination based on his refusal to get a Covid-19 vaccination constituted religious discrimination. The orchestra did not show how an interactive process for the bassist’s religious exemption would have caused undue hardship or that placing the musician on leave was an adverse action. Further, allowing the bassist to play while being tested and masked would have fallen under the mayor’s pandemic proclamation exception, especially since he plays an instrument that would not require removal of a mask. Part of a retaliation claim is dismissed though as the bassist does not show being placed on leave was solely due to his refusal to vaccinate.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Seabright, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv395, NOS: Civil Rights - Habeas Corpus, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Donnelly tosses an employment discrimination complaint against Stony Brook University Medical Center on claims that it denied a nurse’s request for a religious exemption from its Covid-19 mandate and subsequently placed her on unpaid leave until she resigned. Her complaint fails to allege her employer’s actions were motivated by her religion. York’s health department removed religious exemptions from its vaccine mandate, and as such the healthcare provider would have been in violation of the mandate had they granted her request for an exemption for religious purposes.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Donnelly, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv135, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Bloomekatz finds the lower court properly dismissed religious discrimination claims filed by employees who still have jobs at the hospital. They were eventually granted exemptions to the Covid-19 vaccination requirement and lack standing to bring suit. However, because two of the employees resigned under threat of termination and before the employer decided to grant all religious accommodation requests, their claims were improperly dismissed and must be remanded to the trial court. Reversed in part.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Bloomekatz, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 23-3672, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Bredar grants a law firm’s motion to dismiss its former employee’s religious discrimination claims arising from its denial of her religious exemption from the firm’s Covid-19 vaccination mandate. She claims religious discrimination, ADA violations and wrongful termination after refusing to accommodate a religious exemption, even though she agreed to practice all other means of preventative practices in the workplace. The employee fails to plausibly allege the firm’s behavior was discriminatory, but she may file an amended complaint within 21 days.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Bredar, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv2717, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Merchant tosses an employment discrimination complaint that alleges a group of health care workers were wrongfully terminated for refusing to comply with their employer’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Their requests to be exempt from the vaccine mandate for religious purposes would have posed an undue hardship on the hospital’s operations and they also fail to provide any substantiative detail that would suggest management discriminated against them because of their religions.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Merchant, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1277, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Hurd tosses a self-represented New York State Thruway employee’s discrimination and retaliation complaint, finding it fails to allege the agency’s decision to issue him several warnings for refusing to wear a mask around employees during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a negative performance review, was motivated by either discriminatory or retaliatory animus.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Hurd, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 6:22cv337, NOS: Other Labor Litigation - Labor, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Aiken dismisses the respiratory therapist's complaint alleging that the healthcare company placed her on unpaid administrative leave after it granted her a religious exception for the Covid-19 vaccine. The respiratory therapist says that taking the vaccine would violate "the purity of her body," but she does not explain how or what specific religious beliefs taking the vaccine violates.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Aiken, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: 6:23cv12, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Immergut declines to dismiss the executive assistant's complaint that the hospital wrongfully denied her a religious exemption for the Covid-19 vaccine and fired her one month after her request. The hospital argues about the particularities of the executive assistant's religious beliefs, which is not enough to dismiss the complaint, and the hospital does not show that it would have suffered undue hardship if it did accommodate her religious beliefs.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Immergut, Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv216, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. White finds for the employer in a religious discrimination suit filed by a nurse who was fired for refusing to get a Covid-19 vaccine. The hospital has a readily apparent religious affiliation and purpose, regardless that the majority of its workforce do not practice the Catholic religion. Therefore, as a religious organization, the hospital is exempt from religious discrimination claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Missouri, Judge: White, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv1113, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Oliver grants the employer's motion for summary judgment, ruling the female vice president cannot establish a prima facie case for sex discrimination. None of the male vice presidents she names as comparators decided to take an international vacation immediately after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic and shortly after other disciplinary issues; therefore, the male comparators are not similarly situated.
Court: USDC Connecticut, Judge: Oliver, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv770, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: covid-19, employment Discrimination
J. Nelson dismisses the lecturer's complaint that the university did not approve the lecturer a religious exception to the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, placing her on unpaid leave. The lecturer does not establish that the university or its staff substantially burdened her religious practices or beliefs, and the lecturer does not provide any precedent supporting her argument that a medical exception process would "have a tendency to coerce individuals into acting contrary to their religious beliefs."
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Nelson, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv1254, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: Employment, covid-19, employment Discrimination