In Carrero v. City of Chicago, (ND IL, Jan. 2, 2024), an Illinois federal district court allowed a Chicago city employee who has been placed on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with the city's Covid vaccine mandate to move ahead with several claims. The employee was denied a religious exemption from the vaccine mandate because he did not furnish a signed affirmation of belief from his pastor who had a policy of not signing such forms for his 15,000 mega-church members. Allowing plaintiff to move ahead with his 1st Amendment Free Exercise claim, the court said in part:
... At this point of the proceedings, it is reasonable to infer that the City denied Carrero’s application because his religious leader did not confirm the validity of his belief....
Carrero’s beliefs may not be sincerely held or religious in nature. The City is free to challenge those points in the exemption process and in this case....
But the City may not single out religious beliefs merely because they do not conform to the tenets of a religion as interpreted by a spiritual leader. Because that is what Carrero alleges the City’s Policy did to him, he has sufficiently pled that the Policy’s exemption language is not neutral as applied to him....
The court also allowed plaintiff to move ahead with claims under the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Illinois Human Rights Act and Illinois' Civil Rights Act.
