As religious objections to vaccinations have grown nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, the legal precedent for health care facilities being sued for nondiscrimination by employees who receive religious exceptions is "pretty forgiving," a law professor said.
That includes a handful of lawsuits filed against PeaceHealth by hospital employees who received religious exceptions to getting the COVID-19 vaccine but were put on unpaid leave.
PeaceHealth and other employers are required to consider accommodations for employees who request exceptions, said Jim Oleske, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School specializing in the intersection of law and religion. But they don't have to grant any certain accommodation, he said, especially if there's risk to others involved.
A Beaverton attorney filed the federal lawsuits on behalf of five hospital employees who allege that when PeaceHealth put them on indefinite and unpaid administrative leave, it was not based on an “unacceptable health and safety risk,” but was religious discrimination.
Religious objections, once used sparingly around the country to get exempted from various required vaccines, are becoming a much more widely used loophole against the COVID-19 shot. Thousands across the country have requested religious exceptions, and according to a National Law Review article, people have filed more than 450 complaints challenging vaccine mandates based on religion and other reasons.
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