CVS employee sues after company allegedly revoked religious exemption to avoid prescribing contraceptives

Gunna Kristofersdottir, a nurse practitioner in Florida, filed a lawsuit against CVS Health Cooperation on Jan. 18 for allegedly firing her because of her religious objections to prescribing contraceptives.

Kristofersdottir, a devout Catholic, has requested a religious accommodation from CVS since 2014 that exempts her from having to prescribe contraceptives, which go against her religious beliefs. seconds to the complaint. In August 2021, CVS announced that all nurses were required to provide “pregnancy prevention treatment” and eliminated any possibility of exemptions.

“An employer cannot circumvent Title VII's requirement to accommodate religious employees simply by labeling a particular function as 'essential,'” the lawsuit says. “This label is particularly unpersuasive when it concerns a tiny fraction of the services provided by an employee. The relevant inquiry is whether the employee can be accommodated in accordance with the employer's legal duty. CVS's policy of refusing preemptively all such requests, regardless of individual circumstances, is illegal and has a different impact on your employees based on religion.”

Her manager, Lorraine Hendricksen, told Kristofersdottir in the spring of 2022 that her religious accommodation would not be renewed that year, noting that others who had applied for similar exemptions in the past had now opted to prescribe contraceptives, according to the complaint The company reportedly gave Kristofersdottir two weeks to comply with the new rule and rejected any proposed alternatives, “including transferring her to a larger clinic, a virtual clinic or a COVID-19 clinic where she would never they would ask for contraceptives.”

CVS informed Kristofersdottir on March 31, 2022, that she would be fired on April 1, according to the complaint. Kristofersdottir and her attorneys at the First Liberty Institute (FLI) claim that CVS's actions amounted to religious discrimination and are asking the court to order the company to enforce the policy, as well as to compensate Kristofersdottir for “all revenues and profits that he would have received”. “

“After accommodating Gunna for several years, CVS fired her because it simply did not like her religious beliefs,” Stephanie Taub, FLI's senior counsel, said in a Press release. “It is illegal to issue a blanket revocation of all religious accommodations when CVS can accommodate its employees. CVS is sending a message that religious healthcare workers are not welcome and do not need to apply.”

CVS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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