The 3 - January 16, 2022

Positive developments all around have emerged recently from courts at home and abroad, including the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to place on hold the implementation of the COVID vaccine mandate on businesses employing 100 or more people.  And, a former football coach from Washington state will have another day in court - the highest court in the land - regarding his termination because of his practice of post-game prayer.  Plus, a nurse in the United Kingdom has received a positive court ruling in her lawsuit against her former employer, who reassigned her because of her wearing a cross to work.

Businesses and other organizations, including Christian ministries receive vax mandate victory from SCOTUS

I have been tracking the progress, or lack thereof, regarding to so-called OSHA vaccine mandate, which was announced by the President last summer, implemented by the federal government months later, challenged in court, and dealt a decisive defeat in the U.S. Supreme Court.  The mandate would force businesses who have 100 or more employees, to require COVID vaccinations for those employees, who would then have to choose whether or not to receive the vaccine, to which many object, or submit themselves to testing and mask-wearing.  Some have chosen to depart from their jobs, either forceably or through resignation, because they do not want to submit to a government mandate.

Alliance Defending Freedom represented several ministry organizations in their fight against the mandate, which was set aside temporarily by one appeals court, reinstated by another, and challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. ADF's website quotes Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert, who said, in part, regarding the high court's decision to halt enforcement of the mandate: “The Supreme Court correctly concluded that the federal administrative state has no authority to treat unvaccinated employees like workplace hazards and to compel employers to carry out the government’s unlawful national vaccine mandate...," adding, "Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the mandate, we look forward to pressing forward with our substantive litigation on behalf of the clients we represent in the consolidated cases challenging the mandate at the 6th Circuit.”

The SCOTUS Blog, in its analysis of the court's decision, said:

Describing the mandate as a “significant encroachment into the lives — and health — of a vast number of employees,” the court emphasized that Congress must speak clearly if it intends to give a federal agency the authority to “exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.”

In this case, the court continued, Congress did not. It gave the Department of Labor the power to establish safety standards for the workplace, rather than “broad public health measures.” Although COVID-19 “is a risk that occurs in many workplaces,” the court acknowledged, it isn’t a risk that workers encounter simply by virtue of being at work – COVID-19 spreads virtually anywhere that people gather. “Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily life — simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock — would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization,” the court concluded. And indeed, the court noted, the fact that OSHA has never adopted a similar regulation is a “telling indication” that the vaccine-or-test mandate exceeds the agency’s power.

The decision to stay the OSHA mandate was a 6-3 ruling.  In another ruling handed down the same day, the high court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, to allow a mandate for COVID vaccines for health care workers at facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding. 

Football coach fired for praying after games receives overtime at high court

In a case that has already reached the U.S. Supreme Court and was sent back down to a lower court, the former Bremerton, Washington football coach, Joe Kennedy, who had walked to midfield following the high school's games, will be appearing before the high court yet again.

First Liberty, which represents the coach, released the information late last week and stated:

Kennedy, a former high school football coach, is asking the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision that allowed a school district to fire him because fans and students could see him take a knee in silent prayer after football games.

“No teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public,” said Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty. “By taking this important case, the Supreme Court can protect the right of every American to engage in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of punishment.”

The stakes are obviously very high, as First Liberty notes: "The outcome could restore the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and strike a serious blow against a bad legal precedent that’s harmed religious liberty for more than 30 years."

Nurse who lost job due to wearing a cross necklace wins court case

A health care employee in the United Kingdom had a different sort of challenge from which she has emerged. ChristianHeadlines.com reported:

Mary Onuoha was a nurse employed by Croydon Health Services in 2018 when she was asked to remove a necklace that bears a small gold cross. Onuoha, who is Christian, refused, saying the cross is an important public display of her faith and that she had been wearing a cross since she was young. Her legal representative, Christian Legal Centre, noted that other medical staff were permitted to continue wearing jewelry even as she was told to remove her necklace.

Mary was then reassigned to perform "non-clincial duties." She later resigned and sued Croydon. The article states that...

...an employment tribunal sided with Onuoha, saying the hospital had “directly discriminated against and harassed” her.

“Wearing jewellery including necklaces was rife among the Respondent’s workforce,” a summary of the decision said. “Many doctors and nurses continued to do it even during the period in which the Claimant was being disciplined. This was widely tolerated by management.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, is quoted on the Christian Concern website as saying, “It is very uplifting to see the Tribunal acknowledge this truth. It was astonishing that an experienced nurse, during a pandemic, was forced to choose between her faith and the profession she loves.”