UVA Health (File) CHARLOTTESVILE, Va. (WHSV) – The Founding Freedoms Law Center joined with the law firm of CrossCastle, PLLC to file a class-action lawsuit against the University of Virginia (UVA) Health System in federal court on Dec. 13. The lawsuit, which names six former employees, is filed on behalf of several hundred former employees and applicants to whom UVA Health systematically refused religious accommodations. The six Plaintiffs also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the Court to order UVA to immediately stop its discriminatory policies and practices. This suit is similar to lawsuits brought in other jurisdictions, including a recent successful lawsuit against a health system in Illinois. The employees’ Complaint outlines examples of UVA’s blatant First Amendment violations, including establishing a written list of favored religions and then dismissing the religious beliefs of any employee who belonged to a disfavored religious group. The lawsuit seeks to stop UVA’s ongoing violations and to remedy the University’s past violations. Lead counsel for the Plaintiffs, Sam Diehl of CrossCastle, PLLC, remarked, “Even at the peak of COVID, the United States Supreme Court emphatically held that ‘even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.’ Unfortunately […]
