CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the University of Virginia Health System for discriminatory COVID-19 policies and practices regarding religious groups and beliefs.
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On Dec. 13, the Founding Freedoms Law Center joined with the law firm of CrossCastle, PLLC filed the lawsuit in federal court, according to the law center.
We’re told the lawsuit names six former employees and is filed on behalf of several hundred former employees and applicants to whom UVA Health systematically refused religious accommodations.
The complaint outlines examples of the accused first amendment violations and includes a written list of what is referred to as UVA’s favored religions, according to Founding Freedoms.
According to the law center, in 2021, UVA Health implemented a policy requiring all its employees to receive a vaccine for COVID-19.
But with that policy, “it [UVA] knew that it was required to accommodate religious beliefs. But it wanted to minimize accommodations, and it believed that most objections were false political beliefs from members of the political right,” according to the complaint.
The complaint then discusses the actions they say the university took after putting the policy into place.
Dwayne Phillips, a former UVA Health nurse manager, said his religion wasn’t on that list.
“UVA established a list of religions that they favored,” said Dwayne Phillips, a former UVA Health nurse manager. “My religion wasn’t on that list, so they denied my request for religious accommodation. UVA should respect and accommodate its employees of all faiths, not just those UVA favors.”
According to the complaint, Phillips told UVA Health he believed that “the Holy Spirit of God has told me that I should not receive this vaccine,” to which the facility responded and said that it thought Phillips’ explanation “really related more to ... “God speaking to him versus his religious belief” and that “a direct instruction ... from God” was not what UVA Health “was looking for” or “would qualify as a religious accommodation.”
The law center said the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary junction, asking the court to immediately stop UVA’s violations of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.
You can see a full copy of the complaint with more details of the allegations here.