A husband and wife employed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit after failing to convince a federal judge in Tennessee they suffered discrimination from their refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Jessica Bilyeu last month settled her remaining claim over alleged retaliation by the University of Tennessee-Battelle joint venture that runs the lab for DOE. That last claim concerned her contention that UT-Battelle gave her a worse job evaluation in late October 2021, soon after she testified against the contractor in a hearing.
In March, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Atchley Jr. ruled Jessica’s husband, Jeffrey Bilyeu, failed to make a discrimination case against UT-Battelle. The judge ruled being placed on unpaid leave did not amount to an adverse action by the employer.
This month the Bilyeu couple appealed to the Sixth Circuit. They want the appeals court to decide if Judge Atchley erred on their discrimination claims and their claim the contractor wrongly failed to accommodate their request for an exemption from the vaccination.
Last week the Sixth Circuit issued an order saying the Bilyeus should submit their legal brief by June 24 and UT-Battelle should file its answer by July 24.
The Bilyeus were initially part of group of six plaintiffs who sued UT-Battelle over vaccination policy weeks after President Joe Biden’s September 2021 executive order on ensuring adequate safeguards against COVID-19 for employees of federal government contractors.
In June 2022 it appeared settlement of the litigation was at hand.
