Summary Judgment Secured for Municipality in COVID-19 Case
Baker Sterchi secured summary judgment, with prejudice, for a municipality in a Title VII action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The case was brought by a group of firefighters in patient-facing care positions alleging failure to accommodate their religious objections to a COVID-19 vaccination mandate. Plaintiffs generally argued that under Title VII, the City must allow them to mask and treat patients during COVID-19 notwithstanding their unvaccinated status. Although the city granted religious exemptions to vaccinations, it determined that there were no non-patient facing positions available and that reassignment to any of the existing positions in the fire department would create an undue hardship in the form of increased risk of infection.
The court entered judgment in favor of the City on all claims, specifically agreeing that it would have created an undue hardship for the City to accommodate plaintiffs in the manner sought here and citing to recent 9th Circuit decisions arising out of very similar circumstances.
Plaintiffs have appealed to the 9
th Circuit.
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