Creating new duties for Springfield workers who refused the COVID-19 vaccine because of religious beliefs would have posed “undue hardship” for PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, March 17.
The ruling ends lawsuits filed by four former workers at RiverBend. The hospital is operated by PeaceHealth, a not-for-profit health care system with locations in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
In three separate lawsuits workers — including a cook, a neonatal intensive care unit nurse and a specialist working with cardiovascular technology — said they were granted a religious exemption to PeaceHealth’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement and placed on unpaid administrative leave, according to the 48-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken…