Oak Ridge Laboratory workers settle vaccination case in federal court
Six employees at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have settled their lawsuit contesting the COVID-19 vaccination policy implemented by prime contractor UT-Battelle, according to documents filed in federal court this week.
U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. officially closed the books on the case in a single-page order Tuesday, citing the fact that the parties “have reached a settlement in this matter.” Neither the judge’s order or a mediator’s report the day divulge any details on the settlement.
In a one-page “mediator’s report to the court” attorney Chadwick Hatmaker of the Knoxville law firm Woolf-McClane, the mediator agreed upon by the parties, said Monday that mediation was held and the parties settled.
Local litigation rules for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee require mediation updates be filed with the court within five days of the settlement talks.
The settlement resolves the dispute between the lab’s DOE contractor and plaintiffs Jeffrey and Jessica Bilyeu, Stephanie Bruffey, Mark Cofer, Gregory Sheets and William Webb.
The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in October 2021, saying the joint venture between Battelle and the University of Tennessee was being more rigid on vaccinations than was necessary under the executive orders issued by President Joe Biden. The plaintiffs revised their complaint in January after receiving a notice of the right to to sue from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In early May, U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. said the parties appeared serious about settlement and instructed them to report back on settlement talks by July 8.
The plaintiffs had already returned to work, from unpaid leave, at Oak Ridge after a federal district judge issued a national injunction against COVID shot mandates by federal contractors. The vast majority of employees in the DOE weapons complex elected to be vaccinated against the potentially deadly illness, according to DOE.
