Posted on 03/21/2023 6:08:43 PM PDT by marshmallow
In Ciraci v. J.M. Smucker Company, (6th Cir., March 14, 2023), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that employees of a company that sells food products to the federal government may not assert a 1st Amendment free-exercise claim against the company for denying them a religious exemption from a COVID vaccine mandate imposed by the company after the federal government required government contractors to do so. The court said in part:
Constitutional guarantees conventionally apply only to entities that exercise sovereign power, such as federal, state, or local governments.... Smucker’s may be a big company. But it is not a sovereign. Even so, did Smucker’s become a federal actor—did it exercise sovereign power?—for purposes of this free-exercise claim when it sold products to the federal government and when it imposed the vaccine mandate because the federal government required it to do so as a federal contractor? No, as the district court correctly held. We affirm....
Smucker’s does not perform a traditional, exclusive public function; it has not acted jointly with the government or entwined itself with it; and the government did not compel it to deny anyone an exemption. That Smucker’s acted in compliance with a federal law and that Smucker’s served as a federal contractor—the only facts alleged in the claimants’ complaint—do not by themselves make the company a government actor.
The court went on to suggest that even if the company were a state actor, there may be no cause of action against them:
(Excerpt) Read more at religionclause.blogspot.com ...
Why do only religious people get an exemption. That seems wrong?
“Heads I win, tails you lose.” This judge is too cute for his own good and the government’s. Perhaps we need to tear everything down and start over.
Hopefully a case like this will reach SCOTUS...and that they’d reach the right decision.
The government did not compel Smuckers??? Baloney.
So Smuckers could mandate a prayer of a certain denomination on it’s workers?
I never expected that a religious exemption would be upheld, but I wonder about a valid medical exemption?
“The government did not compel Smuckers??? Baloney.”
Smuckers was not compelled to sell to the government. Requiring employees to vaccinate became a condition of the government to continue buying product. Smuckers could have dropped the government as a customer and allowed its employees free choice of vaccination. The government did not require individual employees to vaccinate, it was the company that imposed the mandate because the company wished to continue selling to the government.
Likewise, when the employment rules changed at Smuckers the employees had a choice. They could take the vaccine, and continue employment, or leave the company. In this instance all parties - government, employer, and employees exercised free choice. No one was forced to take a vaccine.
Vaccine requirements by employers are nothing new. Years before Covid I worked for a company that required employees who traveled internationally on company business to take several vaccines. Employees had the option of taking the vaccines or requesting a new assignment in the US operation. If the company could not find an appropriate assignment in the US, the employee was terminated.
Employees have recourse through the political system. They can lobby Congress for laws preventing the federal regulatory bureaucracy from requiring companies to mandate vaccines for their workforce. Citizens can also lobby Congress and the states to pass an amendment to the Constitution subjecting employers, unions, and other private organizations to honor and protect the rights delineated in the Constitution.
>Why do only religious people get an exemption. That seems wrong?
The statement is wrong. The exemption applies to any ‘sincere and meaningful’ belief and is very loosely defined.
It’s just called that because of common usage and convenience.
Ref. https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/section-12-religious-discrimination#h_1221766545871610748636308
So, the 6th Circuit rules that the First Amendment and laws regarding religious freedom and beliefs mean nothing at when it comes to decisions regarding experimental vaccines? Is that exception spelled out in the laws and Constitutional rights regarding religious freedoms?
For tried and tested vaccines. It was obvious to everyone that the COVID shots were neither tried, tested or vaccines nor were they conditions of anyone's original employment agreements.
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“For tried and tested vaccines. It was obvious to everyone that the COVID shots were neither tried, tested or vaccines nor were they conditions of anyone’s original employment agreements.”
The FDA certified the vaccines for general use.
Many employees are “at will” and do not have employment agreements, particularly in “right to work” states. In right to work situations, where no formal agreement is in place, the employer can fire “at will” and the employee can voluntarily leave “at will” without notice. If there were Smuckers employees with employment agreements, it depends on the latitude the employer claims in the agreement. Given the absence of lawsuits against the company by employees being terminated, it is reasonable to assume any employment agreement they had did not preclude the company from taking the action it did with respect to the vaccine.
There’s a fundamental flaw in our system when rogue, unelected judges can issue life-altering fiats from the bench with no oversight. I don’t know what the answer is. But the judiciary has led a reign of terror in this country for over half a century.
Congress passes a law banning gay marriage? Too bad! Rogue judges say you get fag marriage anyway! Just one example.
‘Likewise, when the employment rules changed at Smuckers the employees had a choice. They could take the vaccine, and continue employment, or leave the company.’
nonsense. the contract between employer and employee is defined and set at the time of initial employment.
you can’t change a contract mid stream unless both parties agree.
According to the CDC / FDA there were no medical conditions that made people exempt except for first dose documented allergic reaction. It was that safe. The only substance known to have no interaction that preclude you from taking it.
You have provided an extreme but true example. Your example though has nothing to do with the relationship between employer and employee since employers do not threaten employees with death. While I have heard stories of employers “robbing” employees, I’ve never heard of such an incident in which a life is in imminent danger.
Conservatives have historically favored the legall construct of “right to work” in employment because it provides the most “freedom” for employer and employee. Employer and employee freely enter into an employment arrangement. The employer can direct the activities of the employee without constraints imposed by unions. Employers can also fire incompetent and insubordinate employees at will without interference from unions or government. Employees have no contractual obligation to the employer and can leave for a better job at any time. Do you prefer this type of employment arrangement, where both employee and employer are free to enter into and leave the employment relationship at will or do you prefer a contractual relationship where the duties of the employee are fixed and defined clearly, termination of an non performing employee requires months of process with unions or government actors making it impossible to fire failures?
Neither system is “fair”. The use of federal power to push private employers to mandate vaccines in my opinion is one of the most tyrannical actions by the federal government in my lifetime. It was a direct attack on individual freedom and violated the principles underlying the founding of our nation. Why was it successful? The overwhelming majority of politicians and jurists supported this naked application of government power to squash the liberty of the individual. In other words the protectors of liberty were willing accomplices in the tyranny. Note also the overwhelming majority of citizens took the falsely named vaccine and supported actions of government to impose its will on the entire population.
The founders knew that representative governments fail. When the people become corrupted, they elect people to office who lack virtue and will gladly forsake freedom. The heavy handed implementation of vaccine mandates during the pandemic demonstrated clearly the majority now prefers the “safety” of government to living freely. This is not something lovers of freedom can overcome at the ballot box. The imprisonment of January 6 protestors, and denial of due process of law to defendants, is another example that government no longer is a protector of individual freedom. More examples - stolen elections, politicians of both parties acquiring obscene wealth during their “public service” through influence peddling and insider trading. Federal agents spying on the public without obtaining a warrant. The use of law fare to force free thinking individuals into submission is another example.
The point I am making is we are no longer living in a Republic where the government (elected and the bureaucracy) views its primary mission as supporting the rights of individuals. The Constitution as written is dead. Our “choices” are being limited daily. This time many had the choice of taking the “jab” or quitting a job. I fear that next time the choice will be take the jab or we will restrain you physically to administer it involuntarily.
We as a people no longer have a shared definition of right and wrong. Close to a majority of the population has rejected God. Many who claim to believe do not follow the scripture. We are descending into the anarchy Thomas Hobbes wrote about in his book The Leviathan.
If our nation still cherished individual freedom, Joe Biden wouldn’t have dared to even suggest a vaccine mandate, much less enforce one on selected government employees and use the power of the purse to push private employers in to directing their employees to vaccinate. If our nation still cherished freedom, and government was committed to equal justice under law, Hunter Biden would be in jail as would many of our politicians. If our nation still was still free, most of the January 6 defendants would not have been arrested, and those who were tried and convicted would have received lighter sentences. Certainly there would not be any still languishing in jail without due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution.
The events of the past two years have demonstrated the people have submitted to the chains of arbitrary and capricious dictatorial rule. Like the Roman Republic, it is only a matter of time before our American republic transitions to an imperial rule by a dictator who is chosen and put in place by powerful players who are invisible to the citizens. Perhaps we are already at that point and the elections are merely window dressing.
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