Healthcare Compliance Perspective:
A Compliance Program assists a healthcare provider in following applicable laws, rules, and regulations. Policies and procedures reflect those laws, rules, and regulations. An effective audit should detect compliance with legal accommodations and other non-discriminatory requirements enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The main hospital of a North Carolina healthcare system will pay $89,000 as a settlement of a religious discrimination filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC had charged that the hospital violated federal law by refusing to make accommodation for three employees who refused to have flu vaccinations because of their religious beliefs. The three employees filed official exemption requests, but they did not submit them by the September 1, deadline required by the hospital. The hospital rejected their requests and then terminated their employment.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to make a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs as long as doing so does not pose an undue hardship on the employer. After first attempting to settle the religious discrimination claim through its conciliation process, the EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
In addition to providing monetary relief to the three claimants, the hospital entered into a two-year consent decree which required it to revise its immunization policy to permit employees to request an exemption during the same period in which flu vaccines are to be received. The hospital must also conduct annual training for supervisors and managers on Title VII and an employer’s obligations with respect to religious accommodations; post an employee notice about the lawsuit; and provide periodic reports to the EEOC concerning requests for religious exemption from the flu vaccination requirement.
