Two Iowa health care workers fired for violating a federal law requiring them to be vaccinated against COVID-19 have been awarded jobless benefits due to a state law that ensures such workers can still collect unemployment.
In one case, a judge noted that while the worker could have kept her job by simply claiming a medical or religious exemption, doing so would have forced her to be untruthful.
State records indicate that Jacqueline Eggert worked for Visiting Nurses Association of Johnson County as a certified nurse aide and home care aide, visiting patients in their homes to provide caregiving. In 2021, she was notified by her employer that federal laws required the agency’s employees to either be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus or have an exemption from vaccination. The only exemptions allowed, according to the federal law at that time, were for medical or religious reasons.
Eggert declined to get a vaccination due to her own personal belief that the vaccine was developed too quickly and without adequate research. On Feb. 11, the deadline for compliance, she turned in her work materials and quit due to the lack of vaccination.
Citing the new Iowa law that prohibits the state from denying unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs for refusing the vaccine, Administrative Law Judge Dawn Boucher ruled recently that Eggert was eligible for benefits.
“It is clear that (Eggert) was discharged from employment for refusing to receive a vaccination against...
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