Mass General Brigham employees fired over Covid shots ask Supreme Court to get them their jobs back, even though the court has already rejected a similar bid in Maine

A tiny radical of Mass General Brigham employees who were either fired oregon discontinue implicit their refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19 person asked the US Supreme Court to bid the infirmary concatenation to fto them backmost to enactment portion they proceed to prosecute their suit implicit their terminations.

The employees were denied specified perchance impermanent alleviation by a justice successful US District Court successful Boston and by the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, besides successful Boston. Both said the likelihood of their yet winning their lawsuit were slim. US District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor added the nationalist involvement weighed heavy connected the broadside of the state's largest infirmary network, moving to tamp down the Covid-19 pandemic. The Court of Appeals successful crook rejected their arguments that their terminations were a usurpation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But the employees utilized galore of the aforesaid arguments rejected successful national tribunal present successful their emergency application with the nation's highest tribunal to get their jobs backmost instantly - which has yet to beryllium either approved oregon rejected by the tribunal for consideration.

The Supreme Court exertion was jointly filed by the employees' Massachusetts lawyer, who also mislaid a ineligible battle to effort to unit the University of Massachusetts to fto 2 shot-averse students instrumentality to their campuses, and by Liberty Counsel, a Florida -based steadfast that specializes successful a right-wing presumption of civil-liberties cases - including another Boston lawsuit present earlier the Supreme Court that involves a antheral who wants to alert a "Christian" emblem successful beforehand of City Hall.

They argue, successful part:

After putting Applicants nether changeless unit to forsake their spiritual beliefs and carnal wellbeing, Respondent has enforced its deadline for Applicants to interruption heir sincerely held spiritual beliefs oregon spot themselves successful carnal information by taking a vaccine, and alleviation cannot wait. By choosing not to interruption their sincerely held beliefs oregon spot themselves successful carnal danger, and losing their jobs arsenic a result, Applicants look the continuing inability to provender their children, the continuing nonaccomplishment of immoderate applicable quality to enactment successful their professions, changeless imaginable homelessness, and continuing important affectional and intelligence harm.

Although the Supreme Court takes months to see cases it agrees to hear, it has a "shadow docket" to contented quick, often unsigned, rulings.

The occupation for the Mass General Brigham employees, however, is that the tribunal has already considered a akin lawsuit involving health-care workers successful Maine, and ruled against their petition for a impermanent injunction little than a period agone - successful a lawsuit that had besides been brought by Liberty Counsel.

One imaginable distinction, which the steadfast raised successful its injunction application, is that Maine lone granted aesculapian exemptions, not exemptions for spiritual reasons.

All 8 of the Mass General Brigham employees - six of whom mislaid their jobs, 1 of whom discontinue and 1 of whom got a changeable - claimed spiritual exemptions, either due to the fact that they professed the changeable would change their God-given DNA, nary substance what existent virologists say, oregon due to the fact that immoderate of the investigating of the vaccines mightiness person progressive compartment lines derived from aborted fetuses decades ago. Some besides claimed aesculapian exemptions, which the infirmary denied; successful 1 case, a petition from a large woman, whom doctors said would really beryllium protecting some herself and her unborn kid by getting a shot.

The workers claim:

This lawsuit presents the contented of an employer’s claiming undue hardship successful accommodating Applicants portion astatine the precise aforesaid clip accommodating
other employees. The Court should measurement successful to forestall these blatant Title VII and ADA violations. Failure to bash truthful would effect successful the de facto removal of an employer’s
burden of showing existent undue hardship, leaving lone a lip-service attack to spiritual and disablement accommodation.

Via Doodlemom and SCOTUSblog.