PITTSBURGH – An Allegheny County Jail guard of nearly 15 years alleges she was fired for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, a treatment she wouldn’t consent to because she believes it violates her sincerely held religious beliefs.
Alexis Anderson first filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Dec. 8 versus Allegheny County.
The plaintiffs states she has been a lifelong devout member of the Christian Pentecostal Church, leading her to oppose abortion and the mandate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, since the vaccine contains fetal cells. This led the plaintiff to seek a religious exemption to receiving the vaccine.
“At no time did defendant ever engage in any interactive process with plaintiff to determine whether there existed any reasonable accommodations for her sincerely-held religious beliefs. It is believed and therefore averred that the defendant never had any intention of granting plaintiff’s religious exemption. Rather, the defendant’s intention was to deny all or as many exemptions as possible and force of its workforce to be vaccinated,” the suit says.
“It is believed and therefore averred that defendant had supplied plaintiff with reasonable accommodations in the form of personal protection equipment, social distancing and/or sanitizing throughout the pandemic. These reasonable accommodations suddenly became an undue hardship when the vaccine mandate was put into place on Dec. 1, 2021. Defendant does not require visitors and/or inmates in its facility to be vaccinated. Respondent was allowed to continue to work until Dec. 27, 2021. On that day, defendant informed plaintiff that she was immediately terminated. Her termination was solely due to her unvaccinated status. Defendant perceived plaintiff as disabled due to her unvaccinated status. Plaintiff offered to continue to use the reasonable accommodations listed above in lieu of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Defendant ignored her requests and she was terminated.”
The suit continues that the defendant’s sole reason given for denying plaintiff’s religious exemption was it would create an undue hardship on Allegheny County. Anderson’s tenure at the jail lasted from Jan. 8, 2007 until Nov. 22, 2021, per the suit.
“Despite Ms. Anderson’s request or accommodation of her sincerely-held religious beliefs and/or pre-existing medical conditions, defendant refused to accommodate Ms. Anderson. Defendant failed to engage in the interactive process with plaintiff. Defendant did not offer an alternative accommodation to Ms. Anderson requests other than discharge,” the suit states.
“Rather, in a letter, defendant simply fired Ms. Anderson because the accommodation would cause an undue hardship. When defendant instituted the vaccine mandate, all versions of the available vaccine to plaintiff were not fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but were issued under EUA statutes, which means plaintiff had the right to accept or reject the vaccine without consequence. Defendant’s mandate violated federal law. At no time did defendant explain the rules and benefits of the vaccine to plaintiff to allow her to make an informed choice.”
For counts of discrimination and retaliation through violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, violating the Emergency Use Authorization statute and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the plaintiff is seeking a judgment declaring the defendant’s actions to be unlawful and in violation of the ADA, that the defendant be ordered to reinstate the plaintiff and provide her accumulated seniority, fringe benefits and all other rights, reimbursement of lost wages, pension and other benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, an injunction preventing the defendant from continuing to violate the ADA, costs, expenses, reasonable attorney’s fees and additional relief as may be just and proper.
The plaintiff is represented by James L. Welsh III of WK Law, in Murrysville.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:22-cv-01757
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com