RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – Rex Healthcare is settling with a federal agency over COVID-19 vaccine policies. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Rex on behalf of an employee fired for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a news release, Rex will pay $150,000 and furnish other relief to settle a religious accommodation lawsuit, the federal agency announced today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Rex Healthcare unlawfully denied a remote employee’s request to be exempted from the provider’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy as a religious accommodation.
Although in 2019 and 2020 Rex Healthcare approved the employee’s requests for a religious exemption from the company’s flu vaccine requirement, it denied each of her four requests for an exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement, rejecting her sincerely held religious belief that receiving vaccines is inconsistent with God’s will, and despite the information she provided in support of her position. Ultimately, the company fired her in November 2021 for refusing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to the suit.
“Even when faced with unique challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, employers must comply with federal civil rights law,” said Melinda Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District. “The EEOC will continue to take action when an employee’s right to religious freedom has been unnecessarily restricted.”
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination because of an individual’s religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious observance or practice unless doing so would cause an undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Rex Healthcare, Inc., Case No. 5:24-cv-00739-BO) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
In addition to awarding damages to the affected employee, the two-year consent decree settling the suit prohibits Rex Healthcare from discriminating against and retaliating against employees based on their religion in the future. Rex Healthcare will also adopt and implement a new policy to address requests for religious accommodation and provide training on religious accommodation for its human resource and employee relations employees involved in the review and approval of requests for religious accommodations, as well as all managers and supervisors.
In a statement released to media, UNC spokesman Alan Wolfe wrote that “UNC Health Rex complies with federal law related to religious accommodations and granted many exemptions during the pandemic. As with many hospitals and health systems across the country, we had to make difficult decisions during the worst of the pandemic in the interest of protecting our patients and teammates. He went on to write that “Although we dispute the allegations in the lawsuit, we are happy to resolve this matter and move forward”
Gabriel Mondino, trial attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, said, “An employer should look at an employees’ religious beliefs objectively. Unless an employer can show an available accommodation will result in an undue hardship, such as a substantial increase in the costs of conducting business, the employer must accommodate those beliefs when they are sincerely held.”
The EEOC’s Charlotte District is charged with enforcing federal employment anti-discrimination laws in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.