Last Friday, the federal judge in our class action lawsuit against NorthShore University HealthSystem indicated he would give provisional approval this week to the 10.3-million-dollar settlement on behalf of more than 500 current and former employees. This shot mandate was clearly wrong.

Health care workers who lost their jobs because of unlawful shot mandates just got some justice, thanks to the nation’s first class action monetary settlement involving the COVID shot mandate. Before this settlement, we were already helping thousands of employees. But since we announced the settlement, we have received an influx of calls for help. The abuse by employers is widespread. Read on. —Mat

Although this is a historic victory, our legal work defending religious freedom is far from over. Help Liberty Counsel DEFEND FREEDOM and have YOUR GIFT’S IMPACT DOUBLED by a generous Challenge Grant. Select here or the button below.

NorthShore University HealthSystem in Illinois employs about 17,500 people in five hospitals with 140 locations and is ranked as a Top 15 Teaching Hospital. Last fall, NorthShore ordered employees, even those who already had COVID, to take the jab. ALL religious exemptions were denied.

Employees who refused to compromise or abandon their faith faced harassment and abuse at the hands of hospital administrators and managers who tried to force these faithful employees to deny their faith and take the shots. Those who refused were unlawfully FIRED.

Elysia* was informed by her manager that her job was going to be filled by someone else because she is a Christian who refused to defile her body with an experimental, abortion-linked drug.

Elysia properly submitted a formal request for a religious exemption from the shots, which the hospital should have honored under federal and state law. But instead, Elysia was bullied and harassed, and finally unlawfully fired by her employer—all because she is a Christian who insisted she would not violate her faith by having any association with abortion.

Jeanie* had a similar experience. Her manager flatly told her that her religious exemption appeal would be denied. Jeanie’s supervisors tried to use every coercive trick in the book to intimidate her into forfeiting her religious beliefs until the day they unlawfully fired her.

Judy* is an acute care nurse whose disabled husband, father and son all rely completely upon her for income, insurance and care. All Judy had to do to ensure those benefits kept flowing was to reject the deeply held Christian faith that precluded her from taking an abortion-linked drug. Judy refused to reject her faith … and was fired.

Elizabeth* is a single mother working as a nurse in NorthShore Hospital’s “special infant care” unit. As a single mom, Elizabeth is the sole income, insurance and health care provider to her severely asthmatic son.

As a Christian, Elizabeth had a choice to make—submit to a jab that would be an affront to God or lose the job that pays her family’s bills and provides necessary health insurance. Like the women mentioned above, Elizabeth was bullied and cajoled almost daily to give up her faith.

But Elizabeth stood strong and demanded the Title VII religious freedom rights to which she is entitled under federal law. NorthShore fired Elizabeth and denied religious exemptions for more than 500 people, making no attempt to accommodate any employee. It was truly a decision between the jab or their job.

Paradoxically, NorthShore was more than happy to allow pregnant staffers and others who had submitted medical exemptions to continue working, but not those personnel who had requested religious exemptions.

If the “unvaccinated” were truly such a threat, why would the hospital system allow some unvaccinated people to work, but not the religious unvaccinated? The answer is simple—religious discrimination.

This case establishes a precedent as the nation’s first class wide monetary settlement against a private employer over the COVID shot mandates.

This class wide 10.3-million-dollar settlement is the first in the nation. It is especially appropriate that it involves health care heroes who daily give their lives to protect and treat their patients. This settlement should be a wake-up call to every employer that did not accommodate or exempt employees who opposed the COVID shots for religious reasons.

As part of the settlement agreement, NorthShore will also change its unlawful “no religious accommodations” policy to make it consistent with the law, and to provide religious accommodations in every position across its numerous facilities. No position in any NorthShore facility will be considered off limits to unvaccinated employees with approved religious exemptions.

In addition, employees who were terminated because of their religious refusal of the COVID shots will be eligible for rehire if they apply within 90 days of final settlement approval by the court, and they will retain their previous seniority level.

DEFEND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM & have your gift DOUBLED IN IMPACT by the Challenge Grant!

This case will open the floodgates for other lawsuits against employers that chose to violate Title VII religious freedom rights.

With God’s grace, these lawsuits should put a stop to employers trying to force their staff into forfeiting their federal rights and rejecting their religious convictions just to stay employed.

Liberty Counsel fights every day for the religious freedom, which is the foundational basis of our republic. But that republic, as Founding Father Benjamin Franklin noted, is only ours “if we can keep it.” We must stay vigilant in defending the God-given, unalienable rights our Constitution affirms, or we could lose them forever.

That is why Liberty Counsel’s legal work is so crucially important. We never charge for our legal work as few people could afford to take on a major corporation or the world’s most powerful government gone mad. Instead, our clients rely on YOU and other faithful Liberty Counsel supporters to keep our team at the forefront of the fight.

Please, prayerfully consider making a recurring monthly donation to support our legal work. And don’t forget the Challenge Grant that will DOUBLE THE IMPACT of every donation made today!

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel


*Name changed for privacy.

Sources:

“Class Action Settlement Over Shot Mandate Is a Wake-Up Call,” August 1, 2022. https://lc.org/newsroom/details/080122-class-action-settlement-over-shot-mandate-is-a-wakeup-call.

Doe 1 et al. v. NorthShore University HealthSystem. Liberty Counsel, July 29, 2022. Lc.org/072922NorthShoreSettlementAgreement(FILED).pdf.