Liberty Counsel filed a brief on Monday asking the federal District Court of Illinois to conditionally certify the entire class of health care workers to include them in the emergency relief against the COVID shot mandate at NorthShore University HealthSystem. On November 8, Judge John F. Kness issued a temporary restraining order against NorthShore on behalf of 14 health care workers. The court said the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on Title VII and the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The court set November 16 for a preliminary injunction hearing at which Liberty Counsel will seek permanent relief for the entire class of health care workers at NorthShore. Hundreds of NorthShore health care employees who requested religious accommodations from the “Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy” are already at home on unpaid leave – all of them victims of NorthShore’s unlawful, generalized, uniform, across-the-board “no accommodation” policy.

NorthShore previously granted exemptions for some employees but then denied them in mid-September. Those denials were either without explanation or because the requests failed to meet some so-called “evidence-based criteria” that NorthShore never provided the employees in advance. NorthShore then only gave employees three business days to file an appeal without stating what was missing in the original application. In that appeal, NorthShore also apparently judged the validity of their religious beliefs by requiring them to include their entire vaccination history since the age of eighteen. However, NorthShore never requested employees to provide prior vaccine information in their initial exemption requests. Illinois law dictates that employees at NorthShore University HealthSystem have the fundamental right to determine what medical care to accept and refuse. In fact, Illinois has a Health Care Right of Conscience Act that provides strong protection to all residents against discrimination based on health care choices. Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.