Hospital Workers Sued Their Employer Over a Vaccine Mandate. It Didn’t Go Well

By now, most Americans who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (which amounts to most Americans) have probably gotten it—unless they have opted not to. That can prove problematic from more than just a public health perspective when employers try to force the issue. Anecdotally, we’ve learned that a surprisingly high number of healthcare workers have refused to be immunized. So, it should be of interest that a federal judge in Texas just dismissed a lawsuit filed by 117 workers at Houston Methodist Hospital over their employer’s attempt to require employees to get the COVID-19 shot. The presiding judge upheld the hospital’s vaccine mandate and determined that it didn’t violate federal laws, equating the rule to any number of conditions employers place on their workers—start times, changing assignments or locations, etc.—with the expectation that the employee will either comply, resign, or be terminated. As the push to get every American (including urgent care workers) vaccinated continues, this may be a good time to consider an article JUCM published on this very topic. You can read Can Employers Mandate the Covid-19 Vaccine? in our archive right now.