Private employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate is lawful, federal court rules

The U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Kentucky, which falls under the purview of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Michigan and Ohio, too), recently denied injunctive relief to a group of employees who challenged their employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement.

Facts

On September 3, 2021, a group of more than 40 current and former healthcare workers of a Cincinnati area healthcare provider, St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Summit Medical Group (hereinafter collectively referred to as “St. Elizabeth”), filed a lawsuit seeking to bar the enforcement of the employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The policy required employees without a bona fide medical or religious exemption to get their first vaccination by September 1, 2021, and a second shot by October 1.

The employees claimed (1) mandatory COVID-19 vaccines are “a fraud upon the entire American public,” (2) St. Elizabeth’s policy infringed on their constitutional rights, and (3) the healthcare group didn’t approve religious and medical accommodations to the policy in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On September 22, District Court Judge David Bunning conducted a hearing on the employees’ request that St. Elizabeth be ordered to immediately stop enforcement of the mandatory vaccine policy until further legal proceedings could be conducted. Two days later, the judge issued a ruling denying their request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or a preliminary injunction.

Court’s decision