Niaja Brown had worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for 15 years before being fire in 2017 for refusing to get the flu vaccine, which is mandatory for all workers at the hospital. She had previously gotten the flu shot in keeping with the hospital’s rules, but in 2017 decided “she could no longer go against [her] beliefs,” according to the complaint Ms. Brown filed against the hospital.
In the complaint, she claimed that her dismissal constituted religious discrimination, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has now ruled that what she referred to in the complaint as her “African holistic health lifestyle” is not a religious belief.
The appeals court upheld the ruling of a U.S. Eastern District judge who also ruled that her case did not constitute religious discrimination.
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