Some employees at Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health are challenging the system's mandatory flu shot policy, according to a KSTP-TV report.
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, which represents some Essentia industrial and service workers, filed for an injunction Oct. 20 in the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, seeking to stop implementation of the policy.
In the filing, the union states Essentia announced the policy early last month, and it applies to employees who do not come into contact with patients as well as those who do.
"The new policy allows only very limited medical and religious exemptions. Essentia has stated that all employees who are not vaccinated by Nov. 10, 2017 will be terminated on Nov. 20," the union added.
Following the announcement, the USW said it filed a grievance Sept. 29, 2017, challenging the system's unilateral implementation of the flu shot job requirement. The union further stated it "believes that the policy is not reasonable within the meaning of the management rights provisions and, therefore, cannot be implemented without bargaining."
The union seeks to stop Essentia from implementing the mandatory flu shot policy until the pending grievance is resolved through arbitration.
Essentia said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Essentia is not the only healthcare organization to consider a mandatory flu shot policy. More than 600 hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide have made flu shots a job requirement in some way, KSTP-TV reports, citing information from the Immunization Action Coalition.
Overall, the CDC recommends "everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every season."