
© Cara Ding/The Epoch Times
Lauren Gioia stands in a protest against NorthShore University HealthSystem's vaccine mandate outside Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Ill., on Oct. 12, 2021.
A federal judge temporarily blocked an Illinois hospital system from allegedly putting workers with religious exemptions to getting the COVID-19 vaccine on unpaid leave.
In late October, several employees at the Chicago-area NorthShore University HealthSystem
filed a legal complaint against the company, arguing that the firm's vaccine mandate discriminated against them by forcing them to decide between a vaccine and their jobs.
Liberty Counsel, which is representing the 14 health care workers, said in an emailed statement last week that the
"plaintiffs have shared these religious beliefs, and others, with NorthShore, and have asked NorthShore for exemption and reasonable accommodation for these beliefs, but NorthShore has unlawfully and callously refused."
U.S. District Judge John Kness on Oct. 29
issued a temporary restraining order against the hospital system.
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