A health care system in Atlanta, Georgia, is paying a former worker after allegedly violating federal law when it denied his request to not receive an influenza vaccine, according to newly filed court documents.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) is paying DeMaurius Jackson, the worker it fired, $45,000, according to a consent decree signed by lawyers for the system and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
CHOA, which did not respond to a request for comment, is not admitting fault. But the system is also required under the decree to make significant changes to the way it handles exemption requests to its influenza vaccine mandate.
“It is the responsibility of an employer to accommodate its employees’ sincerely held religious beliefs,” Marcus Keegan, the regional attorney for the EEOC’s Atlanta office, said in a statement. “Unless doing so would pose an undue hardship, an employer may not deny requested religious accommodations, let alone revoke those previously granted without issue. The EEOC is pleased that the employee has been compensated and that CHOA has agreed to take steps to ensure that it meets its obligation to evaluate religious accommodation requests in a manner consistent with federal law.”
The EEOC brought litigation against CHOA in 2022, alleging the system illegally discriminated against Mr. Jackson by failing to accommodate his religious beliefs. That violated the Civil Rights Act, the agency said.
Mr. Jackson began working with CHOA as a maintenance system in May 2016. He converted to Judaism several months later, according to court documents.
Mr. Jackson faced harassment from his supervisor, who was quoted as telling Mr. Jackson that he was not a “real Jew.” The supervisor even ordered pork for employee appreciation lunches over Mr. Jackson’s objections.
Mr. Jackson asked for religious exemption from the influenza vaccination policy in 2017 and 2018 and was granted exemptions in both years.
His request for another exemption in 2019 was denied. An appeal was rejected.
CHOA fired Mr. Jackson over his not receiving an influenza vaccine on Dec. 6, 2019.
Providing an exemption to Mr. Jackson would not have been an “undue burden” on CHOA, and the system illegally deprived Mr. Jackson of employment over his religion, according to the EEOC.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars religious discrimination and requires businesses to accommodate a worker’s religious practice unless doing so would cause “undue hardship.”
CHOA initially denied that it violated federal law, even though it said that it granted Mr. Jackson exemptions in two years but not in 2019.
“Children’s provided reasonable accommodations for Mr. Jackson’s alleged religious beliefs, or in the alternative, to the extent Mr. Jackson sought an accommodation for his alleged religious beliefs which was denied, such accommodation(s) were unreasonable and/or would have posed an undue hardship on Children’s,” lawyers for the system said in a filing.
The bid to fight the litigation, though, ended in December 2023, when the decree was entered.
CHOA agreed to pay Mr. Jackson to not violate federal employment law, to provide Mr. Jackson with a “neutral letter of reference,” and to remove any entries in his personnel file related to the influenza vaccination matter.
The letter states in part, “We wish Mr. Jackson the best in his future endeavors.”
CHOA granted seven exemptions to its mandatory influenza vaccine program in 2019.
CHOA also agreed to update its influenza vaccine policy to state that the system can only deny religious exemption requests with a document that outlines the reason for the denial. The system will also allow employees whose requests are denied the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the system and to not consider the vaccination status, apart from determining if the worker can perform the position without receiving a vaccine.
“Nothing in this policy shall prohibit Children’s from conditioning the granting of any vaccine exemption request on appropriate masking, social distancing, any other disease control practice or requirement, or any other patient safety measures,” the updated policy states.
Mr. Jackson had applied for open positions, including at least one at what was described as a non-clinical location, before being fired and received a call from a representative involved in hiring for one of the positions, according to court filings. But the representative hung up on Mr. Jackson after learning that he had been fired.
The settlement came after the EEOC began intervening for workers fired over refusing COVID-19 vaccines, including workers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
The Mayo Clinic has defended its rejections of the requests.
