Health Care Workers Win Revival of Lawsuit Against Maine COVID Vaccine Mandate

A lawsuit challenging Maine’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers was revived on May 25 by a federal appeals court.
U.S. District Judge Jon Levy, an Obama appointee, wrongly tossed the case when he ruled in 2022 that the mandate is “rationally based,” judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said in the new decision.
“It is plausible, based on the plaintiffs’ allegations and in the absence of further factual development, that the mandate treats comparable secular and religious activity dissimilarly without adequate justification,” U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch, a Clinton appointee, said.
Maine’s 2021 mandate prohibited religious exemptions from the mandate but not medical ones, which was a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the health care workers, who were fired for not being vaccinated, said in the suit.
Levy disagreed.
“Title VII d does not mandate that employers provide the specific accommodation re …