11/7/2023
Federal Agency Urges Court to Rule for Mayo Clinic Workers Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccines
A U.S judge erred in ruling against Christians, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.
Workers fired by the Mayo Clinic for refusing COVID-19 vaccines were wrongly turned down by a federal court, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said in a new filing.
Nurse Shelly Kiel and paramedic Kenneth Ringhofer plausibly made their cases that they held a religious belief that requires accommodation under federal law, the EEOC said in an Oct. 31 amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim wrongly rejected the claims from the former Mayo Clinic workers, the EEOC said.
"As the burden to plausibly plead a religious belief is light, courts should not resolve the nature of such beliefs on a motion to dismiss unless they cannot reasonably infer that the relevant belief is religious," the executive branch agency said.
Judge Tunheim, appointed under President Bill Clinton, ruled in August that Ms. Kiel's belief that her body is a temple and that vaccination was impure was not sufficiently tied to religion and that Mr. Ringhofer's position represented personal judgment, not a religious belief.
"The Mayo Clinic plaintiffs are absolutely thrilled with the EEOC’s decision to intervene," Gregory Erickson, a lawyer representing the former workers, told The Epoch Times in an email. …
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/federal-agency-urges-court-to-rule-for-mayo-clinic-workers-fired-for-refusing-covid-vaccines-5524764