Mercyhealth, which operates hospitals and clinics in McHenry County, will pay $1 million to settle charges brought by the federal government for firing employees who refused the COVID-19 vaccine.
Mercyhealth agreed to pay more than $1 million in monetary relief to a class of employees and has offered to reinstate employees it terminated for refusing to comply with the organization’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.
The settlement comes following an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The agency said it found reasonable cause to believe that Mercyhealth, a health care system operating hospitals and clinics in Illinois and Wisconsin, discriminated against employees based on their religion by denying them a religious accommodation and either terminating their employment or subjecting them to a wage deduction.
The EEOC said Mercyhealth discriminated against a class of those employees from September 2021 to May 2022.
“At the start of my tenure as Acting Chair of the EEOC, I committed to focusing our agency’s resources to address the very real problem of religious discrimination, and this resolution is just the beginning,” EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas said.
“This is an example of what our agency can accomplish when we work with employers to ensure that the doors of our workplaces are equally open to religious employees. I am proud of the monetary relief that we have obtained here, and I am equally proud that these employees—who remained committed to their religious beliefs and practice at great personal cost—will receive job offers,” Lucas said.
The charges allege that employees who were denied a religious accommodation and did not get the COVID-19 vaccine could continue working only if they signed a form allowing the company to deduct a $60 monthly fee from their wages, described by the employer as a “vaccine incentive charge.”
Employees who did not get vaccinated and did not sign the wage deduction form were terminated without consideration for any religious accommodations, the EEOC said.
The agency said the conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on religion.
Following the investigation, the agency and Mercyhealth engaged in the pre-litigation conciliation process, which resulted in a three-year agreement requiring Mercyhealth to provide back pay and compensatory damages to the employees involved.
The agreement also requires Mercyhealth to recirculate its policies, train human resources personnel and those who exercise decision-making authority on religious accommodation requests, and report to the EEOC about religious accommodation requests and decisions related to any system-wide vaccination program.
“Mercyhealth respects the religious beliefs and practices of its employees,” said Kara Sankey, Vice President of Clinical Operations and Chief Nursing Officer for Mercyhealth.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mercyhealth had to confront and address extraordinary challenges in order to carry out its charitable health care mission, while doing its best to protect the health and safety of its patients and its employees and comply with federal rules requiring all hospital staff receive vaccinations,” Sankey said.
“The balancing of these critical goals could not be achieved without the dedication of our doctors and staff in times of significant personal risk, and Mercyhealth appreciates the work and assistance of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in resolving these remaining disputes,” Sankey said.
“The process permits Mercyhealth to demonstrate its long-held commitment to employee rights and to close another chapter in its work during the pandemic,” she added.