NorthShore University Health System, which operates six hospitals in Chicago and its northern suburbs, will pay more than $10 million to hundreds of workers who were fired or threatened with firing when the hospital refused to recognize his religious objections to the order to receive the hospital operator. a vaccine against Covid-19.
Under a settlement agreement, about 500 current and former NorthShore employees will receive up to $24,000 each and possibly get their jobs back.
The hospital system also agreed to rewrite its policies to accommodate religious objectors in all positions within its organization, to align with religious freedom protections within federal civil rights law. Additionally, NorthShore can no longer bar unvaccinated employees with religious exemptions from any position within its organization, according to the settlement.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, from the religious liberty advocacy nonprofit Liberty Counsel, will receive about $2.06 million in fees, or about 20 percent of the total settlement funds. They note that this is significantly lower than the 33% typically awarded to plaintiffs’ lawyers in most class actions.
On December 19, US District Judge John F. Kness ruled from the bench at the close of a hearing in federal court in Chicago. According to a statement, the judge found the settlement to be “fair, reasonable and appropriate.” The judge said he would issue a formal written order ending approval of the settlement, potentially as soon as Dec. 26.
The hearing came a week after both sides filed a joint motion seeking final approval of the settlement.
The settlement would potentially end hundreds of claims against NorthShore that began coming to court in the fall of 2021.
The workers sued NorthShore after the healthcare organization ordered all of its 18,000 employees, contractors and volunteers to receive a full dose of an approved Covid vaccine by the end of October 2021, or likely lose their jobs.
NorthShore operates six hospitals in the Chicago area, including Evanston Hospital; Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview; Highland Park Hospital; Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights; Skokie Hospital; and Swedish Hospital of Chicago.
Eventually, the lawsuits were combined into a single class action on behalf of more than 500 workers. The legal action claimed that NorthShore had unlawfully forced workers to choose between keeping their jobs or violating their sincerely held religious beliefs, in violation of Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act.
Many said they provided the hospital with detailed explanations of their religious objections to vaccines, most of which centered on their understanding that the vaccines were developed, in part, using cell lines obtained from aborted fetuses.
They said their interpretation of Christian scripture, as found in the Bible, about the sacred nature of human life led them to reject medical treatments derived anywhere from these cell lines fetal
However, they claimed that NorthShore still rejected their requests for exemptions, through a review process they called a “sham” created to hide their desire to “purge” religious followers from the labor ranks of hospitals
The case also claimed that NorthShore took these actions without any evidence that unvaccinated employees posed a greater health risk to patients than vaccinated employees who could also contract and spread Covid.
After a federal judge refused to grant them an injunction preventing NorthShore from taking action, hundreds of employees who were denied religious exemptions and still refused a Covid vaccine were dismissed
Court documents indicated that hundreds more NorthShore workers intended to file similar lawsuits in the following months.
Faced with such costly and growing threats of litigation and the potential for significant losses in court, NorthShore chose to settle the case.
The plaintiffs and NorthShore told the court they had reached the settlement in May 2022. The settlement was filed in court and made public in July.
Under the settlement, NorthShore continued to deny the workers’ legal claims and admitted no wrongdoing.
However, the hospital operator agreed to rewrite its policies to accommodate religious beliefs, as required by law, and agreed to pay $10.3 million.
Under the settlement, those who were fired for citing their religious beliefs to oppose the Covid vaccine mandate will each receive more than $24,000.
Workers whose religious objections were overruled and then took the vaccine under threat of extinction will receive more than $3,000 each.
The plaintiffs named in the lawsuits will each receive an additional $20,000.
Payments will be made between 60 and 90 days after the settlement receives final approval.
In addition, NorthShore agreed to consider rehiring those who were fired, without loss of seniority. It is not yet known how many of those who were fired will seek to get their jobs back, nor how many have applied or been rehired.
In a statement earlier this summer about the settlement, Liberty Counsel founder and president Mat Staver said, “The harassment and abuse these and many other health care professionals received during these tenures they are absolutely terrifying.”
Liberty Counsel attorneys said the settlement should serve as a warning and “wake-up call” to employers who may similarly refuse to recognize employees’ religious objections to similar mandates that require workers to choose between taking the strike or keeping their jobs.
The plaintiffs were represented by Liberty Counsel attorneys Horatio Mihet, Mat Staver, Roger K. Gannam and Daniel J. Schmid; and Sorin A. Leahu of Leahu Law Group, Chicago.
NorthShore has been represented by attorneys Kevin P. Simpson, Nasir Hussain and Savannah L. Murin of Winston & Strawn, Chicago; and Seyfarth Shaw’s Marc R. Jacobs of Chicago.
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