COVID-19
Employee wins lawsuit filed by gov’t agency after losing job for refusing COVID shot
From LifeSiteNews
The federal government successfully sued on her behalf, citing a Title VII violation.
A former assistant manager who was fired after applying for a religious accommodation to refuse the COVID shot has been awarded a six-figure payout after a federal government agency filed a lawsuit on the employee’s behalf.
Federal Judge M. Casey Rodgers on Thursday ordered the Pensacola, Florida store Hank’s Fine Furniture (HFI) to pay a former manager, identified in the lawsuit as “K.M.O.,” $110,000 for refusing to accommodate her request for exemption from the COVID shot due to her “sincerely held Christian beliefs.”
“HFI is permanently enjoined from discriminating against any employee on the basis of religion in violation of Title VII,” Rodgers wrote, the Pensacola News Journal reported Monday. He further declared that HFI “will reasonably accommodate employee and prospective employee religious beliefs during all hiring, discipline and promotion activities,” and “any activity affecting any other terms and conditions of employment.”
Significantly, the store also “cannot require proof that an employee’s or applicant’s religious objection to an employer requirement be an official tenet or endorsed teaching of said religious belief,” according to Pensacola News Journal.
Hank’s Furniture must also adopt a written policy, disseminated to all employees, declaring that HFI “will not require any employee to violate sincerely held religious beliefs, including those pertaining to vaccinations, as a condition of his/her employment.”
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued on behalf of K.M.O. (EEOC v. Hank’s Furniture, Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-24533-MCR-HTC) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida after it was unable to reach a pre-litigation settlement “through its administrative conciliation process.”
According to Pensacola News Journal, about two weeks after HFI implemented a policy mandating that its employees receive a COVID shot, K.M.O. told the company she would not get the shot due to her “sincerely held religious beliefs,” and then requested a religious exemption.
According to the lawsuit, HFI ignored her request and asked if she would comply with their COVID shot policy, and K.M.O. then told HFI she planned to submit a written religious accommodation request, asking “whether HFI had a particular form she should use.”
HFI reportedly did not respond to her request. When K.M.O. complained that HFI’s unwillingness to grant her a religious exemption was “unjust,” her new supervisor reportedly told her that “HFI did not care why she would not take” the COVID shot and that HFI “would never grant an accommodation.”
On August 20, 2021, HFI announced that any employee who did not take the COVID shot would be fired on October 31, 2021. On August 26, K.M.O. submitted a written religious exemption request, citing Title VII as well as her “sincerely held Christian beliefs.”
When K.M.O. emailed HMI on September 6, 2021, asking for the status of her religious exemption request, HFI informed her that her religious exemption request was “severely lacking,” and then denied it.
K.M.O. then “asked for help to submit an acceptable religious exemption request,” but HFI refused to discuss any accommodation, according to the lawsuit. Then on October 31, she was fired by HFI because she did not comply with their COVID “vaccination” policy.
Birmingham District Director Bradley Anderson remarked regarding the case for an EEOC press release, “Employees should not have to renounce their religious beliefs in order to remain employed. Let this case serve as a reminder that employers should afford accommodation for religious beliefs unless doing so would cause an undue hardship.”
COVID-19
Freedom Convoy’s Tamara Lich shares heartfelt letter from children: ‘God will be by your side’
From LifeSiteNews
Ahead of the announcement of the verdict from her trial in Canada, the Freedom Convoy co-leader posted on X the ‘beautiful letter’ from a 4-year-old and 8-year-old.
With a few weeks until a verdict is released, Freedom Convoy leader Tamara Lich shared a heartwarming letter she received from a child, who told her to “keep fighting” for everyone and that “God will protect” her from the “enemy.”
Lich shared an image of the letter Thursday on X, writing, “Feels like a good day to share this beautiful letter I received from some very wise children.”
The letter, which was handwritten and sent to Lich by 4-year-old Zavier and 8-year-old Alanis, has the title “God loves You.”
“Thank you for fighting for everyones FREEDOM. God will be by your side and God will protect you from the enemy,” the letter reads.
“With God everything is possible. Stay strong we are praying for you every step of the journey.”
Lich was arrested on February 17, 2022, in Ottawa. Co-leader Chris Barber was arrested the same day.
Lich and Barber’s trial concluded in September 2024, more than a year after it began. It was originally scheduled to last 16 days.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Lich and Barber’s verdict will be announced on March 12.
They both face a possible 10-year prison sentence. LifeSiteNews reported extensively on their trial.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Lich recently spelled out how much the Canadian government has spent prosecuting her and Barber for their role in the protests. She said at least $5 million in “taxpayer dollars” has been spent thus far, with her and Barber’s legal costs being above $750,000.
In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government enacted the never-before-used Emergencies Act (EA) on February 14, 2022.
During the clear-out of protesters after the EA was put in place, one protester, an elderly lady, was trampled by a police horse and one conservative female reporter was beaten by police and shot with a tear gas canister.
Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23.
The EA controversially allowed the government to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, conscript tow truck drivers, and arrest people for participating in assemblies the government deemed illegal.
From LifeSiteNews
Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland ruled that Pat King must serve three months of house arrest and dedicate 100 hours to community service for his participation in the 2022 Freedom Convoy
Freedom Convoy participant Pat King has been given a 3-month conditional sentence for his role in the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest against COVID mandates.
On February 19, Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland ruled that King must serve three additional months of house arrest and dedicate 100 hours to community service for his role in the Freedom Convoy. King’s sentence would have been 12 months, but the court gave him credit for time served prior to his trial.
“In the court’s opinion, there is a social harm to unduly elevating the sentencing rules of denunciation and deterrence in the context of political protests to result in punitive sentences at the top of the sentencing range,” Hackland wrote, explaining why he did not opt to sentence King to a whopping 10-year prison sentence, as the Crown prosecutors had advocated for.
“The risk is that an overly severe sentence of imprisonment in the context of legitimate, constitutionally protected activity can have the effect of creating a chill or fear of participation in political expression,” he continued.
In November, King was found guilty of two counts of disobeying a court order, one count of mischief, one count of counselling others to commit mischief, as well as one count of counselling others to obstruct police.
King’s charges are in relation to his role in the 2022 Freedom Convoy which featured thousands of Canadians camping out in downtown Ottawa to call for an end to the COVID regulations and vaccine mandates in place at the time.
Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government enacted the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, to put an end to the popular convoy. Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23, but only after using the powers granted by the legislation to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, conscript tow truck drivers, and arrest people for participating in the assembly.
The two main Freedom Convoy leaders, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, are still awaiting their verdicts for their involvement in the 2022 protests. Like King, if convicted, they face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
While some of the most notable people involved in the protest, like Lich and Barber, face a slew of charges that come with potentially harsh sentences, other protesters charged for participating have seen their charges dropped.
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