$10 million settlement for healthcare workers fired over vaccine mandate

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$10 million settlement for healthcare workers fired over vaccine mandate, Following the filing of a lawsuit that challenges the rule, a settlement in the amount of $10 million will be awarded to Illinois healthcare workers who were terminated or otherwise impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate at their hospitals.

According to statements made by Mat Staver, founder, and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the organization that is sponsoring the action, to the Washington Examiner, “Let this case be a warning to companies that violated Title VII.” “The fact that healthcare employees are protected by this first COVID settlement to cover the whole class is both extremely significant and rewarding.”

Workers at NorthShore University HealthSystem are at the core of this dispute. They filed a lawsuit against their company in October 2021, saying that their employer acted unlawfully when it refused to give any religious exemptions to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

As a result of the settlement that was approved in the Northern District Court of Illinois, 473 employees of the system will be eligible for compensation for being denied a religious exemption to the vaccine mandate.

In addition, any employees who were terminated as a result of the rules will be eligible for a compensation amount of $25,000 if the rules led to their termination. Those individuals who comply with the obligation to keep their jobs despite having religious objections will be entitled to an additional $3,000, while the thirteen plaintiffs who were involved in the lawsuit will be eligible for an additional $20,000 in compensation.

The settlement was authorized by U.S. District Judge John Kness, who was appointed to his position by former President Donald Trump. Kness appeared to sympathize with Liberty Council’s contention that the mandate violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Kness was appointed by Trump.

Anyone who was terminated from their job as a result of their refusal to get the vaccination will be entitled to reemployment under the new rules.

In a statement, the Vice President of Legal Affairs for Liberty Counsel, Horatio Mihet, said that the settlement should “serve as a strong warning to employers across the nation that they cannot refuse to accommodate those with sincere religious objections to forced vaccination mandates.” This was said in reference to the fact that employers cannot refuse to accommodate people who have sincere religious objections to mandatory vaccinations.

Staver stated that his organization is not just restricting the fight over mandates to the employees of the Illinois health care systems. He told the Washington Examiner that Liberty Counsel is working for employees of the private sector in companies such as airlines and other health care systems.

According to what he had claimed, “we have been working with thousands of employees around the country.” “Many of them are subject to the same jab-or-job rule that is at the center of the controversy in NorthShore.”