13 federal cases against Asante include religious discrimination for COVID vaccine refusal – KDRV

NewsWatch 12 has the details.

MEDFORD, Ore. -- A group of lawsuits against Asante's health care operations are sharing a day in federal court.

Thirteen federal court cases have a shared proceeding this afternoon with the U.S. District Court in Medford.

A sampling of the cases shows claims of religious discrimination against Asante by health care workers who invoked religion as their rationale for refusing to get COVID-19 vaccinations, claiming their employment with Asante subsequently was suspended, causing wrongful employment termination for exercising their religious beliefs.

Eight of the cases list individual plaintiffs, and five of the civil cases have multiple plaintiffs, such asKather et al v. Asante Health System et al. For example, that case has 14 plaintiffs, including Michele Kather, Kourtney Selee, Alyssa Button, Justin Cirillo, Anna Drevenstedt, Ron Hittinger, Miles Kopish, Holly Martin, Tamara Rada, Jessica Stone, Michaela Begg, Myranda Miller, Ronda Osterberg and James Wilson. They list Asante Health System and Does 1 Through 50 as plaintiffs.

Their federal lawsuit seeks "damages for religious discrimintation in violation of Title VII ... and aiding and abetting religious discrimination."

A member of the Emergency Department staff of Asante Three Rivers Medical Center moves toward a patients room.

Today's court conference involves Asante Health System, Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center and Asante Three Rivers Medical Center as follow:

Salem-based attorney Ray Hacke is legal counsel for plaintiffs in three cases, including Kather.He said he believes all of today's Asante cases are COVID-19 vaccine related.

Hacke said Asante claims it accommodated employees who'd cited religion to decline COVID-19 vaccination by putting them on unpaid leave from work. He says, "Putting everybody on unpaid leave ... left people to choose between their faith and their employment."

A staff member of the Emergency Department at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center works at a computer terminal.

He said federal law is clear that employers should not penalize people who identify and articulate their religious beliefs as rationale for an allowed exemption from vaccination.He said, for example, Ronda Osterberg specifically spelled out her faith basis as rationale to Asante for declining COVID-19 vaccination, "then was fired outright."

Hacke said the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with jurisdiction over Oregon, last year ruled that an employee's religious observance is a minor adjustment for employers to accommodate.

His three cases are among today's 13 cases he says are getting consolidated by the federal district court in Medford, including his largest plaintiffs case with 47 plaintiffs.

Hacke said he believes all 13 of today's cases involve Asante employee dismissals for refusing COVID-19 vaccine, and most of them involve religious discrimination claims for people who invoked their religion as a protected right for declining the vaccine, including Asante staff chaplain James Wilson. Hacke says a few cases might involve staff members who invoked protections in the federal Americans with Disabilities Act for medical exemptions from vaccination. His religious discrimination cases involve claims from more than 60 plaintiffs.

Hacke said one of his filings is a potential class-action case. He notes that with class action cases, instead of needing to prove all plaintiffs' cases, then legal counsel need to prove one case or a sampling of cases that are representative of other plaintiffs.He said Asante is resisting a class action which, "could involve a substantial amount of money."

Hacke said his three pending cases leave damages for court to determine. He said some of his clients have mitigated their damages, or financial losses from their claimed Asante employment dismissal, by going to work for Providence's Medford medical organization or returning to Asante after about six months, without vaccination. Hacke says Asante's reinstatement of those plaintiffs/employees and accommodating their religious exemptions later appears to undermine Asante's position of dismissing them in the first place.

Hacke said his cases leave the court to determine adequate compensation for distress, depression, anxiety and punitive damages because they involve factors that are unmeasurable, with real costs and losses somewhat determinable.

He said the federal court is coordinating these 13 cases to process them together through the judicial system.Hacke said other similar cases are underway in other places in Oregon.

Hacke said this way the ruling and the court processing of the cases should be consistent.

He said U.S. District courts in Oregon have 120 COVID-19 vaccination cases.

A staff member in the Critical Care Unit at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center treats a patient. Due to the influx of critically-ill patients suffering from COVID-19, staff had to add beds to some rooms.

He has three cases against Asante, with other federal cases pending against Rogue Community Health and another party.

Hacke explains that Title VII federal statute claims have "burden shifting" framework. He said first, plaintiffs must demonstrate their religious beliefs caused conflict. Second, he says the employee/plaintiff must show they informed the employer about the conflict. Third, Hacke said then-plaintiffs must show the employer in question did not accommodate the employee or the employer took adverse action against the employee/s.

Hacke says then the employer must show either undue hardship prevented reasonable accommodation for the employee or show that accommodation was made, which Asante says unpaid leave provides.

Hacke says unpaid leave is same as employment termination, and he says in the "burden (of proof) shifting," then the next step is plaintiff showing "pretext," or demonstrating the employer's case is inaccurate or its action is a not an accommodation.

Hacke expects the consistent, consolidated treatment by the federal court will have the cases advance or end as one. He says besides representing a plaintiff who was Asante's chaplain, his clients include a security guard and a person who worked remotely.

An isolation room at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center displayed a green check, indicating the room was occupied by a patient not suffering from COVID-19, and no special precautions were needed when entering. The colored sphere above the door is used to indicate negative pressure, ensuring airflow is into the room, not out of it.

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13 federal cases against Asante include religious discrimination for COVID vaccine refusal - KDRV