MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee’s leading faith-based health care system is set to pay $75,000 to a worker fired for not getting a required flu shot due to his religion.
News outlets report the settlement also requires that Saint Thomas Health update its policy to ensure employees may appeal denied religious accommodations.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in October on behalf of the fired employee, a follower of the Moorish Science Temple of America.
All hospital workers are required to have an annual flu shot, and the hospital refused to allow the worker to wear a protective mask in lieu of getting the shot.
The health care system is part of Ascension, the largest nonprofit health system in the country and the world’s largest Catholic health system.
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