A federal choose has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a gaggle of medical professionals towards Governor Janet Mills and several other Maine hospitals that argued they had been subjected to illegal discrimination due to Maine’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Plaintiffs argued that the dearth of a non secular exemption within the vaccine mandate infringed on their proper to free train of faith.
The chief choose of the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maine, Decide Jon Levy dominated in favor of Gov. Mills and the hospitals in a ruling issued on Thursday.
Decide Levy wrote that the vaccine mandate was “rationally primarily based” and that “no additional evaluation is required,” AP reported.
“Decreasing the variety of unvaccinated healthcare staff at designated healthcare amenities in Maine is rationally associated to the federal government’s pursuits in limiting the unfold of COVID-19, safeguarding Maine’s healthcare capability, and defending the lives and well being of Maine individuals,” Levy wrote.
Extra from AP:
The employees had remained nameless since submitting the go well with till July, when a federal appeals court docket in Boston stated they must reveal their identities. The employees additionally argued it was their non secular proper to say no the vaccine over the assumption that fetal stem cells from abortions are used to develop them.
Liberty Counsel, a regulation agency representing the well being care staff, stated in an announcement on Friday that it could enchantment the dismissal. The agency stated in an announcement that Levy’s dismissal was “critically flawed” and “opposite to current Supreme Courtroom precedent involving COVID restrictions on locations of worship and lots of different Supreme Courtroom selections.”
The vaccine mandate went into impact in October. The plaintiffs hoped to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, however the court docket declined to listen to arguments within the go well with earlier this yr. The excessive court docket didn’t clarify its resolution on the time.
The lawsuit named a number of the largest well being care networks within the state as defendants. A type of networks, Northern Gentle Well being, stated in an announcement on Friday that it had been validated by the court docket’s ruling.
“Our well being care group continues to try at all times to behave in the most effective pursuits of our sufferers and our workers in these difficult occasions, and we’re gratified that the court docket utterly validated our conduct on this matter,” the assertion stated.
In the meantime, a gaggle of healthcare staff sued NorthShore College HealthSystem over their COVID vax mandate, as TGP reported.
They stated that they had been denied non secular exemptions regardless of the actual fact they shared their non secular beliefs with NorthShore College HealthSystem.
NorthShore has determined to settle, to the tune of $10 million.
Based on estimates, those that had been fired over the mandate can obtain about $25,000 — and people who ended up getting the vaccine after being denied an exemption on the idea of faith can obtain round $3,000.
The plaintiffs within the case are every going to obtain about $20,000 every.
