The following is an excerpt from The Defender.
A U.S. judge approved a multimillion-dollar settlement on Dec. 19 for workers who were fired by an Illinois healthcare system for refusing to get a Covid-19 vaccine.
About 500 workers who were terminated or, after seeing their exemption requests denied, got a Covid-19 vaccine, will receive compensation as part of the $10.3 million settlement, a preliminary version of which was first announced in July.
U.S. District Judge John Kness, a Trump appointee overseeing the lawsuit brought by the workers, issued verbal approval for the settlement during a hearing, lawyers for Liberty Counsel and NorthShore University Healthsystem said.
Kness plans to release a written judgment in the next week.
In a brief statement emailed to The Epoch Times after Kness’s approval, NorthShore wrote, “We are pleased with the Court’s approval of a supportive resolution to this matter and continue to prioritize the health and safety of our patients and team members.”
Like many healthcare systems, NorthShore imposed a vaccine mandate on employees in 2021.
NorthShore told workers that they could file a request for a religious exemption using a form that said the worker in question needed to provide “a description of my sincerely held religious principle or practice that guides my objection to receiving the required vaccination.”
NorthShore explicitly instructed applicants to not fill out lengthy answers.
NorthShore initially approved some of the exemption requests but then reversed the decisions and denied “all or virtually all of them,” according to filings from the plaintiffs. Officials said the employees failed to meet the standard for religious exemptions.
Harry Mihet, vice president of legal affairs for Liberty Counsel, said in a statement that the group was “pleased to finally get the court’s final approval of this class-wide settlement for these health care workers who were unlawfully discriminated against and denied religious exemptions from the Covid shot mandate.”
“This case should set a precedent for other employers who have violated the law by denying religious exemptions for their employees,” he said. (Continued...)
Link to entire article here.
I suppose they now have to beware of the rage of all those who succumbed to the pressure and took the jabs.
Mandates, lock downs, restrictions on gatherings and business closures have no place in a free society. The Bill of Rights does not carry and asterisk which permits suspension of our freedoms at the whim of an unelected bureaucrat.
I was fired after 24 years at a top trauma hospital for refusing vaccine. I was already on disability for health issues. My request was denied after my cardiologist wrote a letter. It was a year December 2022. How does one inquire on these lawsuits?
A bigger question is how ANYONE supports those who made this possible?! They didn’t fall too far from the apple tree, a falsely installed senile Garbage Man in the WH calling himself “Commander & Chief”.! Truly the Biggest Sellout for a Buck that American history has EVER known and will go in history as such!!!
The last sentence only mentions denial of religious exemption. What about those that just refused. Seems important. Can you clarify?
Glad the judgement was in their favor but 10 mil is a pittance...barely 20k each. For those with damage from this TOXIC SPIKE PROTEIN INJECTION it isn't much at all.
And probably only 13k each after attorney fees. All things considered, that figure doesn't seem nearly enough to me.
I had to get tested every week for almost two years to keep my job because I was not vaccinated. I would drive ten miles and then have to wait in line. People like me will never be compensated for the inconvenience, costs, and lost time.
They paid $20k each for violating their 1st amendment rights and depriving them from providing for their families! Shameful, they should have received 100x that much!
When it comes to people's health, religion shouldn't be an issue. God would want you to get a shot for all humankind anyway.