Judge OKs vaccine mandate settlement between Ascension and Michigan workers

St. Louis-based Ascension has agreed to provide back pay to staff as part of a revamped COVID-19 vaccine settlement approved by a federal judge in Michigan, Law360 reported Nov. 5. 

The settlement between Ascension Michigan affiliates and a group of employees resolves a dispute that staff who were denied religious exemptions to the employer's COVID-19 vaccination policy were wrongly suspended or terminated.

Ascension announced the requirement in July 2021, and workers were given until Nov. 12, 2021, to get vaccinated unless they received a medical or religious exemption.

Some healthcare workers sued Ascension in July 2022.

On Nov. 4, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan entered a nine-page final order and judgment in the case, according to Bloomberg Law.

The final order and judgment followed an appeals court decision in June that vacated the district judge's previous approval of the settlement, finding the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue some of the Ascension affiliates in federal court, according to Bloomberg Law and Law360.

The class of employees subsequently filed an amended complaint. 

Under the settlement, Ascension will offer up to five weeks of back pay to workers who were placed on unpaid leave or terminated after requesting and being denied religious exemptions, according to Law360.

In the July 2022 lawsuit, more than 100 Michigan employees claimed that Ascension Michigan and its affiliate hospitals began calling many of the suspended employees back to work about five weeks after the November 2021 vaccine deadline. However, some employees were permanently terminated or chose to leave their jobs, the publication reported.

Becker's has reached out to Ascension and will update this story if a comment is received.



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