A half-dozen employees suing the operator of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate have asked a federal court in Knoxville for two more weeks, until Jan. 4, 2022, to file their amended complaint.
The plaintiffs filed their motion for the extension in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Tennessee on Tuesday, Dec. 21, saying they only received notification from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Friday, Dec. 17, giving them the right to sue UT-Battelle, the contractor that runs the national laboratory.
“In light of the upcoming holidays,” the plaintiffs seek until Jan. 4 to file a revised complaint or respond to the defendant’s motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs’ lawyers said they had yet to receive a response from the defendants’ attorneys on the requested extension.
The University of Tennessee-Battelle partnership that runs the lab had earlier argued vaccine holdouts have failed to exhaust administrative remedies at EEOC filing the case with the federal district court on Oct. 12.
In addition, the defendants also filed a notice with the court Dec. 17 refusing to consent to having the case adjudicated by a federal magistrate judge, an option put on the table by U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley. Atchley said a magistrate might have more schedule flexibility and could provide the parties with firmer trial dates.
The vaccine refusers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who were placed on unpaid leave, returned to work earlier this month after a federal judge in Georgia blocked the federal vaccine mandate program initiated by the administration of President Joe Biden. The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear appeals of decisions in other vaccine cases after New Year’s, media reported this week.
