More than three dozen nurses and other employees at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego have sued the medical center alleging they were wrongfully fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The plaintiffs, who filed their case in San Diego Superior Court late last month, accused Rady Children’s Hospital of violating their religious freedoms, among other allegations, by issuing blanket terminations rather than judiciously considering applications for religious exemptions.
“The blanket denial to these employees fails to address any determination on the sincerity of the religious beliefs of these employees and fails to demonstrate any undue hardship giving cause for the refusal to accommodate,” the legal complaint states.
“The blanket denial to all employees requesting an exemption evidences an intentional disregard of the requests and clearly constitutes (a) violation of these employees’ rights under state law,” it adds.
The plaintiffs, a collection of 37 former employees who all were terminated after refusing the COVID-19 vaccines offered to them, are not seeking to be reinstated to their jobs. Instead the lawsuit seeks lost wages and benefits as well as punitive damages.
Those costs could reach into the millions of dollars.
Rady officials said Friday that they have a responsibility to protect patients, staff and others as best they can.
“Rady Children’s cares for a vulnerable patient population, many of whom have no option for vaccination,” the nonprofit...
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