PHILADELPHIA - A former paralegal at a prominent Pennsylvania plaintiffs firm has lost a privacy lawsuit against it, as a federal judge found she was the first one to tell the public she refused the COVID-19 vaccine.
Judge Joshua Wolson on Nov. 4 granted summary judgment in favor of Saltz, Mongeluzzi & Bendesky, which was sued by former employee Desiree Purvenas-Hayes in 2023.
The woman claimed Robert Mongeluzzi in 2022 told The Legal Intelligencer that she was one of two employees who refused the vaccination. Her lawsuit claimed Mongeluzzi had no right to disclose her personal medical information.
But Wolson wrote that info wasn't all that secret. She had told other employees at SMB of her opposition to the vaccine outside of her official medical inquiry.
"That public information made its way through the halls at SMB until Robert Mongeluzzi disclosed it to the press," Wolson wrote. "Because his statement did not disclose private information, it didn't violate the (Americans with Disabilities Act)..."
Purvenas-Hayes had been a paralegal at SMB for nine years when, in 2021, the firm announced it would reopen its office for fully vaccinated employees. Those who weren't couldn't come to work.
An office manager was tasked with finding out who was vaccinated. In August 2021, those who weren't vaccinated needed to obtain an exemption to remain employed.
Beginning at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Purvenas-Hayes told several SMB employees she wasn't going to receive the vaccine. Those staffers, including her supervisor, told Mongeluzzi.
An email to the office manager from Purvenas-Hayes said she did not believe the vaccinations were safe. She voluntarily resigned rather than come to work.
About a year later, she sued SMB for overtime pay. When a reporter from The Legal Intelligencer asked Mongeluzzi about the case, he disclosed Purvenas-Hayes left SMB because she did not wish to receive the vaccine.
So she sued again, alleging violations of confidentiality requirements of the ADA.
"Ms. Purvenas-Hayes' claim fails because the ADA's confidentiality requirement protects information that an employer acquires through inquiry or examination, not information that is 'voluntarily offered," Wolson wrote.
"Here, the facts show that Ms. Purvenas-Hayes shared her vaccine status outside of any SMB process."
Wolson denied SMB's motion to dismiss before granting its June 21 motion for summary judgment.
"Mr. Mongeluzzi did not know whether plaintiff was actually vaccinated, but the timing of the resignation, coupled with repeated statements by plaintiff to co-workers about her opposition to the vaccine, led him to conclude that plaintiff quit because she did not want to be vaccinated," that motion said.
"He said as much to the reporter, stating that plaintiff’s unhappiness with the vaccination policy was the reason for both her resignation and the meritless FLSA claims."
The plaintiff is represented by Wayne A. Ely in Richboro.
The defendant is represented by Benjamin K. Jacobs, Michael L. Banks, Eric C. Kim and Shane O’Halloran of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, in Philadelphia.