Dec. 7—A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of dozens of current and former Pittsburgh Regional Transit employees alleges the authority's COVID-19 vaccine mandate amounted to religious discrimination and, for some, ended in wrongful termination.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the mandate was discriminatory against employees' religious beliefs for refusing religious exemptions and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying medical exemptions.
Pittsburgh Regional Transit leaders in January announced vaccination would be required of all employees. Employees had until March 15 to get vaccinated or face termination.
Days before the mandate was set to go into effect, an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge ruled against an injunction sought by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85, the union representing roughly 2,300 PRT employees.
Since then, 43 bus operators and 44 other PRT employees have been terminated for violating the mandate. In the first years of the pandemic, seven employees died from the virus or virus-related complications, said spokesman Adam Brandolph. None have died since the mandate went into effect.
Employees were permitted to ask for a medical or religious exemption, which the lawsuit called "nothing more than a sham ... to attempt to comply with federal and state law." The lawsuit alleged that around 75 employees who had valid religious or medical exemptions were wrongfully terminated.
One example cited in the lawsuit claims a bus operator...
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