Nurse wouldn’t get a flu shot — so North Carolina hospital fired her, lawsuit says
A nurse in North Carolina is suing her former employer for discrimination after she said she was fired for failing to get a flu shot.
Mandy McBride was a nurse at CarePartners Rehabilitation Hospital in Asheville for less than a year when she was terminated just before Christmas in 2016 for refusing a flu vaccine on medical and religious grounds, according to a complaint removed to federal court last week.
McBride’s religious beliefs prevented her from getting the vaccine and she was otherwise allergic with a high-risk pregnancy, her attorneys said in court filings.
“The employer’s termination of plaintiff has caused the plaintiff significant financial damage and has caused the plaintiff to incur emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, loss of self-esteem and loss of civil rights,” the lawsuit states.
Attorneys for both parties did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Tuesday, but the hospital has largely denied any wrongdoing in court filings.
Receives first exemption
McBride lives in Buncombe County and was reportedly hired at CarePartners in April 2016.
CarePartners is a hospital offering rehabilitation, home health, adult care and hospice services in Asheville as a member of Mission Health, its website states. It employs about 1,200 people with an additional 400 volunteers.
McBride was employed as a PRN nurse — meaning she worked as needed, according to the lawsuit.
The hospital told McBride when she started that flu shots were mandatory for all employees unless they qualified for an exemption, her attorneys said in the complaint. McBride received an exemption when she started based on a “severe anaphylactic reaction” she had to a flu vaccine in the early 1990s.
Her attorneys said an alternate flu vaccine that reportedly used “cells obtained from aborted human fetuses” was later manufactured, but McBride objected to using it.
“Plaintiff has a sincere religious belief, based on her understanding of the Christian religion, that abortion is morally wrong,” the lawsuit states. “Because of this sincerely held religious belief, plaintiff cannot utilize forms of vaccines derived or manufactured by (this) process.”
Some vaccines — including those used against rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis A and shingles — are manufactured using “cells derived from elective abortions,” Science Magazine reported.
Denied second exemption
CarePartners granted McBride the exemption but did not tell her she would need to apply again the following flu season, her attorneys said in court filings.
During the course of her employment, McBride reportedly had to take Family and Medical Leave to care for her sick son. CarePartners verified in court filings her FMLA leave lasted for one month from Sept. 17, 2016 to Oct. 16, 2016.
McBride was also experiencing a “high risk” pregnancy at the time, according to court filings.
In October 2016, the hospital reportedly told McBride she needed to get a flu vaccine by Nov. 1. The email was sent to her work address on Sept. 1 — which was also the deadline for receiving an exemption — but she did not see it, her attorneys said in the complaint.
She had trouble accessing her work email and had been communicating with supervisors using her personal email address, the lawsuit states.
McBride tried to apply for an exemption, citing in-part her high-risk pregnancy, but was instructed to speak with a staff doctor, according to court filings.
The doctor, however, “refused to meet” and “refused to respond to her correspondence,” the lawsuit states. McBride was suspended Nov. 1, and the hospital fired her Dec. 16, 2016.
Her termination letter was reportedly sent to her work email on Nov. 18, 2016.
Files for discrimination
McBride filed claims for discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2017, according to court filings.
The EEOC completed its investigation on Aug. 8, 2019, finding “there was reasonable cause to believe” the hospital had discriminated against McBride, her attorneys said in court filings. The EEOC was unable to resolve the matter and issued a “Notice of Right to Sue” in March 2020.
McBride subsequently filed her lawsuit in state court in June, and it was removed to the Western District of North Carolina on Aug. 21.
The lawsuit accuses CarePartners of discriminating against McBride on the basis of religion and sex in violation of the Civil Rights Act. It also alleges the hospital violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
McBride is seeking a permanent injunction barring CarePartners from future discriminatory practices, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys fees.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Nurse wouldn’t get a flu shot — so North Carolina hospital fired her, lawsuit says."
