Why would an employer require a fully remote, no-workplace-entry employee to take the COVID vaccine? Why would this same employer reject a request for a religious exemption?
Kaiser Permanente just found out how mistaken they were to refuse to grant Mimi Weiss, a Jewish Christian, such an exemption. The company intrusively questioned her about her faith and medical history, and declared her explanation not good enough. Kaiser fired her.
Weiss sued Kaiser for religious discrimination, and a lower court dismissed the case. Becket Law, her legal counsel, announced on Friday that a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Weiss’s favor.
The Ninth Circuit disagreed with the company’s reason for firing Weiss. From Becket Law:
Judge Danielle Forrest warned that demanding more explanation than the law requires “would permit an employer to delve into the religious practices of an employee in order to determine whether religion mandates the employee’s adherence.”
The panel remanded the case to the lower court. Will Kaiser appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has ruled in favor of Christians in recent years? Arguing in court against religious liberty, a constitutional guarantee, is bad optics.
“I never imagined my faith would end up costing me my job,” said Weiss. “I wasn’t asking Kaiser for special treatment, just the freedom to live according to my conscience. After 20 years of service, I didn’t think that was too much to ask. I’m grateful the court recognized that religious employees should not have to give up their beliefs or their privacy to keep their jobs.”
