The very first class action lawsuit over vaccine mandates was settled for $10 million this week.
Healthcare providers in Illinois won a class action lawsuit against NorthShore University HealthSystem over vaccine mandates. These were healthcare workers who were fired for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates. This is clearly the first of many to come.
The case was settled out of court. Interestingly, the settlement includes money for employees that DID get vaccinated as well as money for those who did not. Employees who claimed religious exemption to the vaccine and were denied it are eligible for a payout. Those who refused the vaccine, asked for a religious exemption and subsequently lost their jobs will be eligible for $25,000. Those who requested a religious exemption and did not get it so then capitulated and got the vaccine to keep their jobs can still get $3,000.
Bloomberg has done a round-up of the litigation around vaccine mandates. Most of them claim violation of Title VII, which prohibits workplace discriminiation based on, among other things, religion. Far fewer make health related claims, interestingly enough.
These lawsuits will be interesting to watch because companies that choose not to settle them will be forced to show exactly what the mandates were based on. In Canada, a recent lawsuit showed that the government instituted vaccine travel mandates without having any scientific reason to do so. Will we get information like that in the U.S.? We’re watching.
