Employees Failed to Show Sincere Religious Beliefs for Vaccine Exemptions

In Gardner-Alfred v. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, (SD NY, Sept. 25, 2023), a New York federal district court dismissed RFRA, Title VII and First Amendment claims by two Federal Reserve Bank employees who were denied religious exemptions from the FRB's Covid vaccine mandate.  The court, in a 52-page opinion, concluded that neither Lori Gardner-Alfred nor Jeanette Diaz had demonstrated that their objections to the vaccine were based on sincere religious beliefs. The court said in part:

Gardner-Alfred claims to be a member of the Temple of Healing Spirit, which is a belief system that she describes as “oppos[ing] the invasive techniques of traditional Western medicine.” ...

Defendant argues that no reasonable jury could find that Gardner-Alfred’s objections to the vaccine were grounded in sincerely held religious beliefs.,,,  Defendant argues that there is no evidence Gardner-Alfred enjoyed any relationship with the Temple of Healing Spirit beyond paying for a vaccination exemption package and that her medical history, both before and after she made her request for a religious accommodation, is inconsistent with her alleged religious beliefs....

 No reasonable jury thus would be able to conclude that her claimed religious beliefs were anything other than contrived....

... [T]here is undisputed evidence that Diaz would have a motive to “fraudulently hid[e] secular interests behind a veil of religious doctrine.”... Diaz submitted her accommodation request days after attending a secular anti-vaccination webinar featuring materials entitled “White Paper—Experimental Covid Vaccines,” and “Review of Ivermectin Efficacy.”...  [S]he subscribed to at least eight newsletters, which sent her several hundred emails, from sources opposing the vaccine on secular grounds.... 

There also is evidence of Diaz acting in a manner inconsistent with her claimed religious views.... Diaz concedes that she has on many occasions taken medications and received injections without first checking whether they contain or were made or manufactured with aborted fetal cell lines...

Diaz further does not dispute that the views that she now claims to hold are different from those held by the church of which she claims to be a member..... 

... She bases her objection on the letter she received from the Colorado Catholic Conference, an organization with which she had no prior affiliation and has no current affiliation.... The letter is available for download from the internet from anyone who seeks it....

New Decisions on Covid Vaccine Religious Objection Claims

Decisions have been handed down in the past few days in several cases in which employees who were denied a religious exemption or accommodation from an employer's Covid vaccine mandate have sued:

In Dicapua v. City of New York, (Richmond Cty. NY Sup. Ct., Sept 18, 2923), 16 employees of the Department of Education brought suit.  A New York state trial court held that ten of the employees should have been granted a religious exemption, saying in part:

This Court sees no rational basis for not allowing unvaccinated classroom teachers in amongst an admitted population of primarily unvaccinated students.

In Mora v. New York State Unified Court System, (SD NY, Sept. 19, 2023), a New York federal district court dismissed a suit by a Poughkeepsie City Court Judge, saying in part:

Here, the Vaccine Mandate has been repealed, and plaintiff has been reinstated to his full in-person duties. Therefore, plaintiff has not alleged an ongoing violation of federal law, or a need for prospective relief...

Damage claims were  dismissed in part on the basis of 11th Amendment immunity and in part because Title VII does not apply to government appointees on the policymaking level. His Free Exercise claim was denied because the vaccine mandate was a neutral, generally applicable rule. Retaliation and equal protection claims were also rejected.

In Trusov v. Oregon Health & Science University, (D OR, Sept. 20, 2023), an Oregon federal district court dismissed some of the claims brought by a registered nurse who was denied a religious accommodation, and deferred consideration of another of her claims.  The court said in part:

Regarding Defendants’ challenge to Plaintiff’s First Claim, alleging religious discrimination in employment, the Court finds that OHSU’s arguments about undue hardship must await a motion for summary judgment, at which time the Court may consider matters outside the pleadings and, if necessary, motions to exclude expert testimony. Regarding Defendants’ challenge to Plaintiff’s second claim brought under § 1983 against the individual Defendants, the Court dismisses that claim under the doctrine of qualified immunity. Regarding, Defendants’ challenge to Plaintiff’s request for prospective declaratory relief, the Court dismisses that request for lack of standing.

In Mathisen v. Oregon Health & Science University, (D OR, Sept. 19, 2023), an Oregon federal district court rejected claims brought by a research laboratory manager who was denied a religious exemption as well as a medical exemption. The court said in part:

In support of their motion to dismiss, Defendants argue that Plaintiff’s Title VII claim fails because OHSU offered to accommodate Plaintiff’s religious beliefs by offering an accommodation—masking—to which Plaintiff has alleged no objection based on religion....

Plaintiff’s assertion that masking would not promote safety is a secular objection, not a religious one. That objection, therefore, does not establish that the offered accommodation to her religious objection was not reasonable for purposes of her claim of religious discrimination.

Other of Plaintiff's claims were dismissed on qualified immunity and standing grounds.

Court OK's Denial of Unemployment Benefits for Religious Objector to Covid Vaccine Mandate

In In re Parks v. Commissioner of Labor, (NY App., Aug. 31, 2023), a New York state appellate court affirmed the decision of the state Unemployment Insurance Appeal Bord denying unemployment compensation to a medical center security guard who was fired for refusing to comply with a Covid vaccine mandate. The court said in part:

Although claimant refused to comply with the mandate for personal reasons that he characterized as based upon his religious beliefs, the state mandate did not authorize a religious exemption. Contrary to claimant's contention that the vaccine mandate violates his First Amendment religious and other constitutional rights, religious beliefs do not excuse compliance with a valid, religion-neutral law of general applicability that prohibits conduct that the state is free to regulate, as the Board recognized.... When employment is terminated as a consequence of the failure to comply with such a law, including noncompliance with a religious motivation, the First Amendment does not prohibit the denial of unemployment insurance benefits based upon that noncompliance where, as here, the mandate has a rational public-health basis and is justified by a compelling government interest....

[Thanks to Eugene Volokh via Religionlaw for the lead.]

Title VII Claim for Denying Religious Exemption from Vaccine Mandate Moves Ahead

In MacDonald v. Oregon Health & Science University, (D OR, Aug, 28, 2023), an Oregon federal district court refused to dismiss a Title VII claim by a former nurse in a hospital's Mother and Baby Unit who was denied a religious exemption from the hospital's Covid vaccine mandate. The hospital argued that because plaintiff's job duties required her to interact with vulnerable pregnant mothers and newborn babies, any accommodation would pose an "undue hardship" on the hospital.  The court pointed out that on a motion to dismiss, unlike on a motion for summary judgment, the court is generally not permitted to consider evidence outside of the pleadings, saying in part:

Accordingly, this Court finds that, at this stage, it is unable to properly consider the extrinsic evidence on which Defendants rely to show either that there were no other viable accommodations to Plaintiff’s vaccination, or that any accommodations would have created an undue hardship consistent with Groff....

... [O]n a fuller evidentiary record, Defendants may be able to satisfy their burden to show that any accommodation would indeed have resulted in a substantial cost to OHSU. But Defendants have not met that burden at this stage.

The court however dismissed plaintiff's 1st Amendment free exercise claim, concluding that defendants had qualified immunity.

Challenge To Maine's Elimination of Religious Exemption To School Vaccination Mandate May Move Ahead

Fox v. Makin, (D ME, Aug. 16, 2023), is a challenge to the Maine legislature's removal of religious exemptions from the state's school vaccination requirements.  Plaintiffs' son was denied a religious exemption by the principal and vice-principal of the son's school at the direction of the state commissioner of education. In the case, a Maine federal district court allowed plaintiffs to move ahead with their claims for injunctive and declaratory relief against the Commissioner, principal and vice-principal. The court held that plaintiffs' free exercise claim was subject to strict scrutiny, finding that the vaccination law lacked general applicability. The court said in part:

Maine continues to permit multiple non-religious exemptions, including a 90-day grace period for non-religious students, a medical exemption, and the IEP sunset provision, all of which arguably undermine its student health and safety interests while restricting religious exemptions that may pose comparable risks....

The Court finds it plausible that section 6355 is not narrowly tailored to advance Maine’s interests.

The court also found that defendants had qualified immunity from damage claims, saying in part:

... [I]t was not clearly established during the period alleged in the Amended Complaint that failing to permit a religious exemption to mandatory school vaccination (while providing others certain non-religious exemptions) violates religious objectors’ constitutional rights. Thus, even if the Court were to assume – without deciding – that section 6355 is unconstitutional, it would be “unfair to subject” the Commissioner and the individual School Defendants “to money damages for picking the losing side of the controversy” by complying with section 6355....

2nd Circuit Upholds Connecticut's Repeal of Religious Exemptions from Vaccination Requirements

In We the Patriots USA, Inc. v. Connecticut Office of Early Childhood Development, (2d Cir., Aug. 4, 2013), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the constitutionality of Connecticut's repeal of religious exemptions from its mandatory vaccination laws, while retaining medical exemptions. The majority said in part:

 At bottom, plaintiffs' argument that the Act is not neutral under Smith boils down to the proposition that repealing any existing religious exemption is hostile to religion per se.... We find this argument unpersuasive, for four reasons....

Plaintiffs and the dissent suggest that further development of the factual record might reveal that medical exemptions and religious exemptions are comparable for Free Exercise Clause purposes. But because the Act's medical exemptions further the State's interest in a way a religious exemption would not, permitting plaintiffs to proceed to discovery would require more of the State than what the Supreme Court has prescribed.

Judge Bianco dissented in part, saying in part:

Notwithstanding these many fact-intensive questions regarding whether this law satisfies the general applicability requirement under Smith, the majority opinion closes the courthouse doors to plaintiffs on their free exercise claim on a motion to dismiss before any discovery and before plaintiffs had an opportunity to present evidence bearing on the general applicability requirement in this particular context. The majority opinion does so by concluding, inter alia, that medical and religious exemptions are not comparable for free exercise purposes as a matter of law. Neither Supreme Court precedent nor this Court’s jurisprudence allows a court to so summarily cast aside the fundamental constitutional right of individuals to the free exercise of religion. In reaching this conclusion ... the majority opinion ignores two recent decisions by this Court addressing similar COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

AP reports on the decision. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Some Claimed Exemptions From Vaccine Mandate Were Not Religious In Nature

In Ellison v. Inova Health Care Services, three hospital employees sued because their claims for religious exemptions from the Covid vaccine mandate were rejected.  They asserted that their employer violated Title VII by failing to accommodate their religious beliefs. The court found that only the aborted fetal cell objections of one defendant were adequately linked in the pleadings to plaintiff's religious beliefs.  Other objections to the vaccine were not religious in nature.  The court said in part: 

In Ellison’s request for exception, he claims that, as a Christian, he has a right to refuse the vaccine. Specifically, he claims that the Bible requires Christians to treat their bodies as “temple[s] of the Holy Spirit,” meaning that he is “compel[led]” to care for his mind and body.... And because, in his view, taking the COVID-19 vaccine would “introduce to [his] body a medication that could induce harm,” he claims that complying with the hospital’s policy would be “antithetical to [his] desire to honor God.”...

... [T]he Court finds that, though couched in religious terms, Ellison refused the vaccines based on concerns of vaccine safety.

Two of the plaintiffs claimed that they pray over their health care decisions and follow God's answers.  The court rejected this, calling it an unverifiable claim of a blanket privilege that undermines our system of ordered liberty.

Denial of Teacher's Religious Exemption from Covid Vaccine Mandate Is Upheld

In In re Matyas v. Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, (NY County Sup. Ct., July 11, 2023), a New York trial court rejected a teacher's challenge to the Department of Education's denial of an exemption from its Covid vaccine mandate. The court said in part:

[P]etitioner submitted, to the DOE, a request for a reasonable accommodation exempting her from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement on the ground that her childhood Roman Catholic faith, and what appears to have been her recent conversion to an unspecified sect of Evangelical Protestant Christianity, made it impossible for her to take any type of vaccination. She cited several passages from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible... most which discuss one’s faith and trust in the almighty, and the last of which proscribes the mixing of human blood with the mixing of the blood of sacrificed animals. . As the petitioner phrased it, although she teaches biology, 

“[t]here is only one GOD. To trust that a vaccine will protect us more than God would, is to have a false idol. I cannot betray my faith and GOD and my conscious. I will not follow any false idols in search of salvation I know that my salvation is secure in my faith in GOD.”...

With respect to ... her First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and discrimination in employment on the basis of religion, the petitioner has not established either that the City’s vaccine mandate was premised upon religion, as she has not demonstrated that her conclusions about the alleged proscription of desecrating the human body with vaccinations is an established Catholic or Evangelical doctrine, or shown that they were more than her personal interpretation of her obligations as a practicing Catholic or Evangelical....

3 Courts Rule on Claims for Religious Exemptions from Covid Vaccine Mandates

Last week, federal district courts in three states handed down decisions in cases in which a former employee was suing his or her employer for refusing to provide them with a religious exemption from the employer's Covid vaccine mandate.

In Crocker v. Austin, (WD LA, June 22, 2023) a Louisiana federal district court dismissed as moot a suit for injunctive relief brought by seven military service members who faced involuntary separation from the Air Force when they filed suit. However, in January 2023 the military rescinded the vaccine mandate and updated personnel records to remove any adverse actions associated with the denial of requested exemptions. Any remaining suit for damages falls under the Tucker Act and must be brought in the Court of Federal Claims.

In Leek v. Lehigh Valley Health Network, (ED PA, June 23, 2023), a Pennsylvania federal district court refused to dismiss a Title VII religious discrimination claim filed by a nurse who was denied religious exemptions from a hospital's requirement to receive Covid and influenza vaccines. The hospital claimed that the nurse's objections were not religious in nature. The court held that the nurse's belief that chemical injections may make her body impure in the eyes of the Lord, and her objections to some vaccines because they were developed using aborted fetal cells, are both religious objections.  The fact that some of her other objections were more medical or political did not negate the presence of religious objections.

In Algarin v. NYC Health + Hospitals Corp., (SD NY, June 23, 2023), a New York federal district court dismissed claims by an Internet technology professional at a health care facility that denial of his request for a religious exemption from the state's Covid vaccine mandate violated Title VII and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws. The court disagreed, holding that requiring the employer to violate a state rule would place an undue burden on the employer. The court also rejected plaintiff's 1st Amendment free exercise claim, finding that the vaccine mandate was a neutral law of general applicability.

Teachers May Move Ahead with Suit Challenging Denial of Exemption from Covid Vaccine Mandate

 In Brandon v. Board of Education of the City of St. Louis, (ED MO, June 21, 2023), a Missouri federal district court refused to dismiss Free Exercise and Equal Protection claims, as well as Missouri Human Rights Act and Title VII claims by 41 of the 43 teachers and staff, in a suit challenging the denial of religious exemptions from the school district's Covid vaccine mandate. Discussing plaintiffs' First Amendment claim, the court said in part:

[Eighth Circuit precedent] instructs district courts to apply Jacobson to laws passed and enforced while an emerging public-health emergency is “developing rapidly, poorly understood, and in need of immediate and decisive action,.., but the tiers of scrutiny when “time [was] available for more reasoned and less immediate decision-making by public health officials” and “the immediate public health crisis [had] dissipated,”.... Again, which standard applies depends upon a “factual determination,”..., and the Court must at this point accept Plaintiffs’ well-pleaded factual allegations as true.... Because Plaintiffs have pleaded the existence of a late-2021 policy apparently lacking the urgency that characterized the regulations and executive orders issued early in the pandemic, [precedent] compels the Court—at least for now—to apply the ordinary tiers of scrutiny to the District’s Policy as alleged.

Among the claims dismissed by the court was the claim that refusal to grant the religious exemptions violated a Missouri statute that prohibits discrimination for refusal to participate in abortions.

Minnesota Appeals Court Decides 4 Cases on Religious Exemptions from Vaccine Mandates

Yesterday, the Minnesota Court of Appeals decided four separate appeals from decisions of Unemployment Law Judges who denied unemployment benefits because an applicant refused on religious grounds to comply with an employer's Covid vaccine mandate. Goede v. Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP, (MN App., June 12, 2023), was the only one of the four cases published as a precedential decision. The court affirmed the ULJ's denial of benefits even though the state Department of Employment and Economic Development urged its reversal.  The court said in part:

The ULJ found that “Goede does not have a sincerely held religious belief that prevents her from receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.” The ULJ explained: “Goede’s testimony, when viewed as a whole, shows by a preponderance of the evidence that Goede’s concern is about some vaccines, and that she is declining to take them because she does not trust them, not because of a religious belief.” The ULJ further stated that “[w]hen looking at the totality of the circumstances, Goede’s belief that COVID-19 vaccines are not okay to put in her body is a personal belief not rooted in religion.”

In Daniel v. Honeywell International, Inc., (MN App., June 12, 2023), the appellate court again upheld a denial of benefits, this time to a former employee who refused both the Covid vaccine and refused to comply with the employer's religious accommodation.  The court said in part:

Relator asserts that Honeywell’s COVID-19 policy requiring that he get weekly COVID-19 tests and submit the results “required [him] to defy [his] religious faith.” He asserts that he was upholding his religious faith “by practicing [his] God given right of ‘control over [his] medical’ by not subjecting Jesus Christ’s temple to forcefully coerced medical treatments such as weekly PCR and/or rapid antigen test requirements.”...

The ULJ found that relator lacked credibility because he provided inconsistent testimony and he struggled to explain his religious beliefs.

The court reversed the ULJ's denial of benefits in two other cases. In Benish v. Berkley Risk Administrators Company, LLC, (MN App., June 12, 2023) the court said in part:

The ULJ found that Benish made a “personal choice” to refuse the vaccine, but Benish did not testify to any personal reasons for refusing the vaccine. Instead, he consistently testified that his reason for refusing it was religious. The ULJ also placed improper weight on inconsistencies in Benish’s religious beliefs and on the fact that the Pope had encouraged vaccination in determining that Benish’s beliefs were not sincerely held.... 

... [W]e conclude that the ULJ’s finding—that Benish did not have a sincerely held religious belief that precluded him from getting a COVID-19 vaccine—is unsupported by substantial evidence and must be reversed.

In Millington v. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, (MN App., June 12, 2023), the court reversed the ULJ's denial of benefits, saying in part:

Millington clearly and consistently testified regarding her religious reasons for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Millington’s testimony concerning personal reasons for refusing the vaccine— that she already had COVID-19 and believed she did not need the vaccine and that she had concerns about the safety of the vaccine—are not sufficient to constitute substantial evidence.

In addition, although we generally defer to a ULJ’s credibility findings, the ULJ’s credibility finding in this case was based on at least two erroneous considerations. First, the ULJ erred by relying on the absence of direction from a religious leader to support a finding that Millington did not have a sincerely held religious belief.... Second, the ULJ failed to explain how Millington’s use of over-the-counter medications or alcohol is pertinent to her objection to the COVID-19 vaccine based on its relationship to fetal cell lines. Consequently, the ULJ’s credibility determination is not entitled to the same deference typically owed by an appellate court.

Football Coach Can Proceed on Some Claims Against University After Termination for Refusing Covid Vaccine

In Rolovich v. Washington State University, (ED WA, May 30, 2023), a Washington federal district court refused to dismiss failure to accommodate and breach of contract claims by the head football coach of Washington State University who was terminated after he refused to comply with the state's Covid vaccine mandate. Discussing plaintiff's Title VII failure to accommodate claim, the court said in part:

Plaintiff’s claim that his Catholic faith informed his decision not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is sufficient at the pleading stage to meet the prima facie element that he has a bona fide religious belief.... Plaintiff has adequately pleaded the first element of the prima facie case for a failure to accommodate claim. Defendant does not challenge the remaining elements of Plaintiff’s prima facie case....

Defendant asserts that Plaintiff’s accommodation request would have resulted in increased travel costs, harm to recruitment and fundraising efforts, and damage to WSU’s reputation and donor commitments, in addition to an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 to student athletes and other coaching staff....

While these claims of undue hardship may be supported by evidence not presently before the Court, they are insufficient on their own to support a finding that Plaintiff’s accommodation would have imposed an undue hardship....

The court concluded that the WSU Athletic Director was entitled to qualified immunity as to the coach's free exercise and due process claims. USA Today reports on the decision.

1st Circuit: Free Exercise Claim by Maine Healthcare Workers Over COVID Mandate May Move Forward

 In Lowe v. Mills, (1st Cir., May 25, 2023), the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in part a Maine district court's dismissal of a suit by seven health care facility workers whose request for religious exemptions from the state's COVID vaccine mandate was rejected.  The court said in part:

The claims against the State assert, among other things, that the Mandate, by allowing medical but not religious exemptions, violates the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution....

We agree with the district court that the complaint's factual allegations establish that violating the Mandate in order to provide the plaintiffs' requested accommodation would have caused undue hardship for the Providers, and so affirm the dismissal of the Title VII claims. But we conclude that the plaintiffs' complaint states claims for relief under the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses, as it is plausible, based on the plaintiffs' allegations and in the absence of further factual development, that the Mandate treats comparable secular and religious activity dissimilarly without adequate justification.

Air Force Announces Portal To Process Religious Exemption Requests

The U.S. Air Force announced last week that it has developed a Portal to streamline requests for religious accommodation filed by Air Force, Space Force, and civilian employees, as well as appeals from denials of requests. According to an Air Force official:

The service has seen an exponential increase in religious accommodation requests, and the portal offers a systemic automated solution to ensure our servicemembers and civilians are assisted in the most expeditious manner going forward.

The Air Force has been embroiled in litigation filed by service members seeking religious exemptions from the military's COVID vaccine mandate. (See prior posting.)

9th Circuit Remands Employees' Challenge to Vaccine Exemption Denial

In Keene v. City and County of San Francisco, (9th Cir., May 15, 2023), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a decision from a California federal district court that denied preliminary relief to two city and county employees who were denied religious exemptions from CCSF's COVID vaccine mandate. The appeals court said in part:

The district court erroneously concluded that “[n]either Plaintiff has demonstrated that their religious beliefs are sincere or that those beliefs conflict with receiving the COVID-19 vaccine...."...

Beyond the district court’s factual error, its decision reflects a misunderstanding of Title VII law. A religious belief need not be consistent or rational to be protected under Title VII, and an assertion of a sincere religious belief is generally accepted.... 

The district court did not explain its conclusion that Appellants had not established sincerity beyond stating that there are “no grounds upon which to assert the mistaken conclusion that the FDA-approved vaccines . . . are . . . derived from murdered babies” and generally stating that personal preferences are not sincere religious beliefs. And CCSF offered no argument or evidence that Appellants’ beliefs are insincere. Absent any indication otherwise, it seems that the district court erroneously held that Appellants had not asserted sincere religious beliefs because their beliefs were not scientifically accurate. Remand is warranted for the district court to reevaluate Appellants’ claims applying the proper failure-to-accommodate inquiry....

Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

EEOC Sues Hospital for Failing to Accommodate Religious Objection to Flu Shot

The EEOC announced yesterday that it has filed suit against Mercy Health St. Mary’s, a Grand Rapids, Michigan hospital for refusing to provide a religious accommodation to a job applicant and declining to hire him because of his religious beliefs. The release said in part:

... Mercy Health St. Mary’s violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by rescinding a job offer to an applicant who, for religious reasons, refused to receive a flu vaccine. Under Mercy Health’s influenza policy, employees are required to get a flu shot on an annual basis unless granted an exemption. While the applicant’s conditional job offer was pending, he applied for an exemption to the flu shot requirement based on his religious beliefs. Mercy Health arbitrarily denied his request and rescinded the job offer, without specifying to the applicant why or how his request for an exemption was deficient, the EEOC said.

Court Calls for Fuller Explanation for Denying Religious Exemption from COVOD Vaccine Mandate

 In Matter of Daniels v. New York City Police Dept., (Sup. Ct. NY County, April 24, 2023), a New York state trial court remanded to the City of New York Reasonable Accommodations Appeals Panel a claim for a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine mandate brought by a NYPD officer assigned to the Emergency Services Unit.  The initial determination by the NYPD Equal Employment Opportunity Division was communicated through a pre-printed form with three boxes checked off indicating insufficient documentation and explanation as well as a lack of a history of vaccine refusal.  The Appeals Panel merely adopted the EEOD's reasoning.  In calling for a fuller explanation, the court said in part:

The NYPD EEOD's determination is a prime example of a determination that sets forth only the most perfunctory discussion of reasons for administrative action. The court has nothing before it that would enable it to analyze how the pre-printed "reasons" that were checked off on its determination letter related to or defeated the petitioner's request for accommodation. This type of conclusory administrative determination would require the court to speculate as to the thought processes of the person who checked the boxes, and provide its own reasons for those choices, an approach prohibited by longstanding rules of law.

Mississippi Must Grant Religious Exemptions To School Vaccination Requirements

 In Bosarge v. Edney, (SD MS, April 18, 2023), a Mississippi federal district court issued a preliminary injunction requiring Mississippi's State Health Officer, as well as school officials named as defendants, to provide religious exemptions from the state's mandatory vaccination requirements for school children. The court said in part:

The face of the statute allows for medical exemptions but affords no exemption for religious beliefs, and the Complaint alleges that this constitutes “an unconstitutional value judgment that secular (i.e., medical) motivations for opting out of compulsory immunization are permitted, but that religious motivations are not.”....

The Attorney General’s argument is essentially that the Compulsory Vaccination Law does not violate the Free Exercise Clause because the [Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act] MRFRA saves it.... Taking this argument to its logical conclusion as to Plaintiffs’ facial challenge, no Mississippi statute could ever violate the Free Exercise Clause on its face because the more general, non-specific MRFRA applies to all State laws and operates to cure any law that would otherwise be deemed to violate the Free Exercise Clause.... However, at least in this case, the Court is not persuaded that the MRFRA can be read in this fashion with respect to Plaintiffs’ facial challenge.

RNS reports on the decision.

Dismissal Recommended in Healthcare Worker's Claim for Religious Exemption from Vaccine Mandate

In Bolonchuk v. Cherry Creek Nursing Center/ Nexion Health, (D CO, April 12, 2023), a Colorado federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing a suit by a former nursing home healthcare employee whose 18-year long employment was terminated after she refused on religious grounds to comply with her employer's Covid vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. A state regulation required the vaccine mandate. The court rejected plaintiff's 1st Amendment claim because defendant was not alleged to be a state actor.  It also rejected her claim that Title VII required a religious accommodation, saying in part:

Defendant would have had to violate a state law (i.e., the regulation mandate) in order to accommodate Plaintiff, clearly establishing an undue hardship.

NYPD Administrative Review of Religious Exemption Claim Was Arbitrary

In Matter of Quagliata v New York City Police Department, (NY County Sup. Ct., March 17, 2023), a New York state trial court remanded a case in which an administrative Panel refused to grant an NYPD police officer a religious exemption from New York City's COVID vaccine mandate. The court said in part:

Inasmuch as the Panel’s determination sets forth absolutely no rationale whatsoever for its conclusions, other than to incorporate the conclusory reasons articulated by the NYPD EEOD, the Panel’s determination is facially arbitrary and capricious, and may be annulled on that ground alone....

Even were the court directly to review the NYPD EEOD’s initial determination, it nonetheless would be constrained to conclude that the initial determination also was arbitrary and capricious. The NYPD EEOD’s determination is a prime example of a determination that sets forth only the most perfunctory discussion of reasons for administrative action....

The court’s conclusion in this regard should not be construed as a ruling that, had the petitioner’s stated reasons for his request for an exemption, and his discussion of religious doctrine, properly been analyzed..., the petitioner’s contentions would have constituted a proper basis for an exemption... 

With respect to ... violation of his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion and discrimination in employment..., the petitioner has not established either that the City’s vaccine mandate or the termination of his own employment were premised upon religion, as he has not demonstrated that his conclusions about sin, the use of embryonic stem cells in the development and improvement of various vaccinations and medications, and the alleged proscription of desecrating the human body via any genetic manipulation that mRNA vaccinations might generate, are established Catholic doctrine, or merely his personal interpretation of his obligations as a practicing Catholic.