Husband-and-wife plaintiffs filed written arguments with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently again claiming the Department of Energy contractor running the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee discriminated against them for their religious-based refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The July 24 filing by Jeffrey and Jessica Bilyeu in litigation against UT-Battelle, the contractor team of Battelle and the University of Tennessee, also asserts that U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley erred in striking down most of their claims.
The couple filed their case in the Sixth Circuit in April after Jessica Bilyeu settled her remaining claim in district court over alleged retaliation. She claimed the prime gave her a bad job review after the COVID-19 vaccination dispute.
Saying the district judge “overlooked several key facts in the record, oral argument may benefit the Court by clarifying material facts and the record in this case,” according to the filing by the Bilyeus. As of Tuesday, Aug. 6, UT-Battelle had yet to file its answer to the Bilyeu brief.
In December 2021, UT-Battelle decided it wanted employees to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, which would ultimately be responsible for the deaths of more than 1 million people in the United States.
The couple claims in the filing the UT-Battelle vaccination policy “was absolute, and it did not matter if an employee had a sincerely held religious belief that conflicted with receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, any such employee was forced onto indefinite, unpaid leave until the end of the pandemic—effectively, termination,” the filing goes on to say.
The district court ruled that Jeff Bilyeu’s use of vacation time to cover the unpaid leave did not constitute an adverse job action by his employer. Jessica Bilyeu was eventually able to receive a medical accommodation from the vaccination, according to the filing.
In the appeals brief, the Bilyeus ask the Sixth Circuit to consider whether the trial court erred in finding they lacked a case on discrimination and in rejecting their claims for “failure to accommodate.”
The plaintiffs contend that early on in the drive toward vaccination, “UT-Battelle created an environment to pressure employees of faith not to seek an accommodation.” Workers who took the shot were praised as helping protect the lab workforce.
Jeff Bilyeu has worked at the lab as a radiological control technician since 2018, and Jessica Bilyeu has been employed as a quality representative since 2019, according to the filing.
Back in June 2022, it appeared the Bilyeus and other plaintiffs no longer involved in the case had reached a settlement.
