The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week sued Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Hospital for allegedly violating federal religious discrimination laws by firing employees who failed to receive flu vaccinations.
The hospital requires a flu vaccination by December. Employees who wish to abstain from the vaccination due to religious beliefs must file a request by Sept. 1, according to the EEOC complaint. The lawsuit names three employees who were fired after missing the Sept. 1 deadline and at least one other who was suspended without pay prior to her termination, according to the EEOC.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Ashville, alleges Mission Hospital did not make a reasonable accommodation for the employees' sincerely held religious beliefs.
"An arbitrary deadline does not protect an employer from its obligation to provide a religious accommodation. An employer must consider, at the time it receives a request for a religious accommodation, whether the request can be granted without undue burden," Lynette Barnes, regional attorney for EEOC's Charlotte District Office, said in a statement from the EEOC.
However, Ronald Paulus, MD, president and CEO of Mission, told local news station WLOS the deadline is not arbitrary; it corresponds with the beginning of flu season. He said employees are given 90 days of reminders to file exemption paperwork, and those who are granted the exemption are moved to lower-risk areas of the hospital, according to the report.
"We clearly accommodate religious belief, all we do is ask that they take two minutes to fill out the form and put it in," Dr. Paulus told WLOS.
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