Morality, Belief, and the First Amendment are saving the nation.
Jul 30, 2024
The 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals have issued 10 appellate decisions since May supporting religious and moral beliefs for employees who didn’t want the covid shot and/or testing.
This run of wins has roots in last year’s Groff v DeJoy decision out of the Supreme Court. That case rejected the “de minimis” standard for religious accommodations. The Court held that employers must show substantial costs to deny accommodation.
Here are some of the recent winning appeals briefly described:
2024-05-07 Does v Univ of CO Regents, 10th Circuit.
Government can’t discriminate based on religious beliefs. It can’t judge legitimacy of religious beliefs. It can’t “troll” through a person’s beliefs. And, policies can’t favor secular over religious exemptions.
2024-05-24 Ringhofer v Mayo Clinic, 8th Circuit.
Employers can’t judge if objection is truly religious. Religious beliefs don’t need to be logical or consistent. A testing objection was upheld. Science can be part of belief—It may be part of judging how something is bad for you.
2024-06-07 Health Freedom Def. Fund, Inc., v. Carvalho, 9th Circuit.
Reinstated challenges to school vaccine mandate. Questioned legitimacy of mandating ineffective vaccine. Allowed attorneys to argue that the shots are not vaccines.
2024-06-12 Lucky v. Landmark Medical of MI, 6th Circuit.
Government can’t second-guess religious interpretations. Rejected calling religious beliefs merely “personal.” Personal beliefs count.
2024-06-18 Bacon v. Woodward, 9th Circuit.
Reinstated firefighters’ challenge to vaccine mandate. Mandate not generally applicable due to exemptions. Mutual aid agreement allowed unvaccinated firefighters to fill in when needed so no rationale to discriminate.
2024-07-18 Beuca v. Washington State University, 9th Circuit.
Reversed dismissal of religious accommodation claim. Cited Groff’s new “substantial costs” standard required before an employee may be fired.
2024-07-23 Davis v. Orange County, 11th Circuit.
Firefighter Battalion Chief refused to reprimand objecting firefighters. Vacated dismissal of retaliation claim. Cited Muldrow’s new adverse action standard. The harm need not be significant to be compensable.
2024-07-29 Spivack v. Krasner, 3rd Circuit.
Remanded for trial on Free Exercise claim by an Orthodox Jew. Jury to resolve factual disputes on religious hostility by Krasner.
2024-07-29 Passarella v. Aspirus, 7th Circuit.
Religious accommodations can have religious linked with secular reasoning. Remanded for trial on accommodation claim.
Recent Finalized cases:
2024-07-22 EEOC v. Hank’s Furniture
$110,000 settlement for manager denied religious exemption. Company enjoined from religious discrimination.
2024-06-28 Benton trial, TN
Jury awarded $687,240 to employee denied religious exemption.
Started with a favorable 2022-02-28 Navy Seals 5th Circuit opinion. 35 Navy service members sued over vaccine mandate. Navy granted medical but not religious exemptions. Court ordered policy changes and $1.5M in attorney fees. Did not award damages or back pay. Did fix service records.
Ongoing cases:
Rake v. University of California Regents, 220,000 employees. Past motions to dismiss and in discovery. We get access to the medical records. Using California’s Constitution and laws against the Regents.
Some Military Cases From: Three Lawsuits Filed: Bassen | Botello | Harkins (militarybackpay.com)
Bassen v. United States (Active-Duty). Class action for about 8,500 active-duty service members involuntarily discharged due to unvaccinated status and other active-duty service members forced into early retirement or constructively discharged due being unvaccinated.
Botello v. United States (National Guard/Reserves). Class-action seeking backpay and other remedies for 70,000-100,000 members of the Air and Army National Guard, and for reserve members of all services, dropped from active-duty orders or active status, denied pay or benefits, or prohibited from participating in drills, training, other duties due to being unvaccinated.
Harkins v. United States (Active-Duty and Reserve). Class action for active-duty and reserve Coast Guard members involuntarily discharged due to their unvaccinated status, as well as any other Coast Guard members who were forced into early retirement or were constructively discharged due to being unvaccinated.
Others:
1000s of individual employment claims settled. Settlement numbers are going up as the appellate wins come in.
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DISCLAIMER: not legal advice but general information, not to be construed as legal advice applicable to your particular situation. No attorney-client relationship is created unless an engagement letter is signed by you and your attorney.
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