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Depositphotos.com image “COVID-19 has threatened the lives and livelihoods of everyone on this planet.” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general, World Health Organization The recent uptick of COVID was a stark reminder that the affliction still exists. So, too, are COVID-related cases, including ones concerning refusals by employees to follow company vaccination policies. Four of them were decided earlier this year by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The outcomes of the cases, like the severity of the symptoms, were varied, as were a pair of decisions of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The persistence of the disease, although not at pandemic stage any longer, along with the four unemployment compensation cases stemming from it, warrant review as a potential surge of the malady is anticipated this fall and winter. The cases were well analyzed by this publication when they were issued earlier this spring. See L. Brown “ Court of Appeals addresses latest exemption claims in vaccine firings ,” Minnesota Lawyer, June 20, 2023. But they take on a somewhat different complexion in light of a subsequent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, near the end of its 2022-23 term, expanding the parameters of religious freedom claims in […]