By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.

Mercy Hospital Springfield violated 10 former employees’ civil rights when it denied or granted limited religious accommodations from the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to a federal lawsuit filed on May 29.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri Southern Division, also alleges the hospital retaliated against the workers for seeking accommodations from the vaccine.

Ten former hospital employees, including Amy Shepard, Marissa Moffatt and 8 unnamed individuals, brought the suit against Mercy Hospital Springfield, a large Missouri hospital that admitted over 35,000 patients last year and is part of one of the 15 largest U.S. health systems.

In July 2021, Mercy Hospital Springfield announced that all employees must be vaccinated by Sept. 30, 2021, or face likely termination if they did not receive a medical or religious exemption.

Mercy has faced several employee discrimination lawsuits related to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for staff. In 2022, Kristy Cyr, a speech-language pathologist who identified as Christian and formerly worked at Mercy, sued the hospital after it denied her religious accommodation request.

When asked to comment on the most recent lawsuit, Mercy’s Media Relations & Communications Manager Ettie Berneking told The Defender in a statement:

“While we do not comment on pending legal matters, as healthcare providers we have an obligation to protect the health of the communities we serve by requiring certain vaccinations as a condition of employment.

“There are exceptions for valid medical or religious reasons. Mercy carefully reviews each request and has granted some exemptions for legitimate medical and religious reasons. These steps protect the health of our caregivers, visitors and patients.”

Hospital violated Civil Rights Act, suit alleges

Kristi Fulnecky, attorney for the plaintiffs and former Springfield, Missouri, councilwoman, first filed the suit in June 2025.

On May 29, Fulnecky refiled the suit after it was dismissed in April for failing to properly serve the defendant and for insufficient compliance with court filing rules.

The suit alleges that Mercy violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against employees based on their religious beliefs and by retaliating against those who requested accommodations.

Federal law requires employers to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so creates an undue hardship.

The suit also alleges that Mercy made demands on the employees granted religious accommodations — including “rigorous masking” — that distinguished them from vaccinated employees and subjected them to different treatment at the workplace.

Fulnecky did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Number of COVID vaccine employer discrimination cases rising

The lawsuit is part of a growing number of employer discrimination cases filed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In some instances, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been involved.

For example, the EEOC in March announced that an unnamed global tech company will pay $15 million and overhaul its workplace policies to settle federal discrimination charges tied to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The agreement — reached without a lawsuit — is the agency’s largest settlement involving a pandemic-era vaccine mandate.

The EEOC found “reasonable cause” to believe the company discriminated against employees by denying religious and disability exemption requests and firing workers who refused vaccination.

The company, which operates in 12 states and specializes in electronics and computing services, chose to resolve the case voluntarily and “without admission of liability,” avoiding a prolonged legal fight.

Under EEOC rules, companies that settle before a lawsuit is filed can remain unnamed.

Still, it is rare for the agency to publicly announce such deals. Reuters reported only one similar case in the past decade, when an anonymous Colorado restaurant paid $50,000 in 2016.

Following the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, the EEOC received nearly 14,000 religious discrimination charges in fiscal year 2022 — up from 2,111 the year before, a more than 600% increase.

In many cases, disputes have led to smaller settlements or ongoing litigation.

Last March, Rex Healthcare agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve a claim that it denied a religious exemption. In 2024, a research lab run by the University of Tennessee paid over $2.8 million to settle similar allegations affecting a larger group of employees.

In 2025, Mercyhealth agreed to pay more than $1 million and offer reinstatement to workers terminated over its vaccine policy.

Also in 2025, the Court of Appeal of the State of Kansas ruled that Saint Luke’s Health Systems improperly fired an employee when it rejected her request for a religious exemption from the hospital system’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Other cases are still playing out in court. The EEOC sued Mayo Clinic in 2025, alleging it violated federal law by denying a security guard’s request for a religious exemption and pressuring him to get vaccinated or lose his job.

Related articles in The Defender

• Global Tech Co. to Pay $15 Million in COVID Vaccine Discrimination Case
• Oklahoma Company to Pay $4.25M After Firing Workers Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
• Court Rules Against Hospital That Fired Woman for Refusing COVID Vaccine
• Nurse Sues New Jersey Hospital That Denied Her Religious Exemption for Flu Vaccine

The post 10 Ex-Employees Sue Hospital Over COVID Vaccine Mandate, Alleging Civil Rights Discrimination appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

 

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