Posted on 05/02/2021 2:11:47 PM PDT by george76
Houston woman let go from her job as a nurse after refusing to get COVID-19 vaccine..
FOX 26 Reporter Maria Salazar spoke with the woman who claimed she was also silenced and harassed.
A Houston-area woman says she was a nurse at Houston Methodist for about 10 years until this week.
"I knew that the date was looming over my head of me to get the vaccine and we were constantly being pressured and pressured," Michelle Fuentes told FOX 26.
On April 1, Houston Methodist announced it would require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine by June 7. However, the hospital system asked employees who would not get the vaccine to submit documentation for consideration for a medical or religious exemption by May 3.
Fuentes says she made a final effort to voice her concern to save her job at Houston Methodist before turning in her two-weeks notice.
"I just needed a little bit more time and little bit more research to be done," Fuentes stated.
She adds she wants the clinical trials to be completed before she decides to get the vaccine or not. But stresses she is not against vaccines and gets the flu vaccine every year.
A spokesperson for the hospital system says 90% of employees are vaccinated now, and only two in management have resigned so far.
Fuentes says a supervisor encouraged her to file for a religious exemption.
"And I said, 'Well, I don't have a religious exemption. I'm not doing this for religious reasons,' and she said, 'I know, but we'll help you fill it out, and at least this will save your job,'" Fuentes claims. "So, because I don't have a religious reason and it's a personal reason, my beliefs and my feelings aren't as worthy as someone who has a religious reason?"
Fuentes says when she did not agree to stay quiet about the reason for her departure, she was not allowed to complete her final two weeks and escorted out of the hospital.
In response, Houston Methodist stated they do not advise those who decline the vaccine for personal reasons to file for a religious exemption. Adding:
"We have a process in place for the employees who want to request a religious/medical exemption--- like we have had for the flu shot for more than a decade. Not all exemptions are granted."
In the meantime, Fuentes says she was prepared to wear masks at work and show lab results of COVID-19 antibodies since she'd recovered from the disease.
She adds, she regularly worked in a surgical unit, but volunteered to work in the COVID-19 unit.
"I want to be known that I was a safe nurse when I worked at the height of the pandemic and volunteered to work and did work in the COVID unit. So, I was a safe nurse then, not vaccinated, and I was able to turn back around and work in my unit without being tested and without being vaccinated," Fuentes said.
Houston Methodist adds:
"Our employees have the choice to stay or leave—we are not forcing anyone to get a vaccine. But over everything, we must put patients first. It is our obligation as health care workers to do no harm to our patients, who are among the most vulnerable in our community."
Generally, employers are able to require employees to get vaccinated. Clayton Craighead, an employment attorney in Houston, says there are the two exemption that both deal with accomodations.
"One of them is an accomodation under the American with Disabilities Act and the second exception is an accomodation on a religious basis. In order to establish an entitlement under the ADA, the employee would have to provide some sort of documentation from a doctor explaining why he or she, could not or should not receive the vaccination due to some medical condition or disability," Craighead explained.
He adds the employer is going to be required to provide the accomodation unless the employer can demonstrate doing so would create an undue burden on the organization.
"For example in the health industry, it probably would be very difficult to allow employees to not be vaccinated," he noted.
The second accomodation requires employees to demonstrate they have sincerely held religious belief that prohibits them from getting the vaccine.
"An employer, in order to avoid providing that accommodation of religion, has to also demonstrate undue burden but the standard is actually lower for religious accomodation than it is under the American with Disabilities Act," Craighead added.
“She was escorted out of the hospital”......
not until she gave notice; you’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts...
just because her separation was not amicable doesn’t mean there’s any employer liability...
believe that forcing soldiers to take experimental medicine is against the Geneva Convention.
But nurses? Heck, you can force them to take anything.
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And comments like these is why I’m seriously considering canceling my 20 dollar/month donation to FR ....been doing it for years btw...
Also , btw, I’m a nurse, and you’re an A Hole.
PS: NO VAX FOR ME, A Hole
Moderna’s own filings clearly state they can’t label their shot a vaccine per the FDA, and must refer to it as a gene-therapy. Regardless, all of the companies with shots out there still need two additional trials each before they would be normally approved.
IMO the military are an exception to the rule.
They can literally order you into combat, into a situation where someone’s firing bullets your way. If you sign up for this, you know it and accept it, that you’re basically signing your body over to them. Men are probably wired for this, to an extent that women are not.
I think if I were a commander and someone serving under me refused to get an injection, I’d think twice about having them serve “in harm’s way.”
Defending the country means personal sovereignty takes a back seat.
Fact; She was escorted out of the hospital. She at least wanted two more weeks of pay....call it what you want.
That’s ok, I don’t mind :)
I’ll add that Houston Methodist is most worried about being liable if an unvaccinated employee becomes the source of an outbreak.
We wouldn’t have these vaccines if manufacturers weren’t protected from liability.
Houston Methodist enjoys no such protection.
Everyone’s worried about getting sued.
https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/faqs#collapse-vaccine2
If you require your employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment (i.e., for work-related reasons), then any adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is work-related. The adverse reaction is recordable if it is a new case under 29 CFR 1904.6 and meets one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7.
Power and control - same as the 1930s German socialist required yellow stars.
>> COVID antibodies .. she’d recovered from the disease.. why force her to get a vaccine?
“Our employees have the choice to stay or leave—we are not forcing anyone to get a vaccine.”
Apparently their idea of force is holding a person down and sticking them while they scream objections.
“Your jab or your job” is force.
You don’t seem to understand sarcasm.
Thank you.
You totally misunderstood my post. I was attempting to say that forcing vaccines on nurses seemed like a war crime. Sorry I was not clear.
‘She at least wanted two more weeks of pay....call it what you want’
and in all likelihood she got the two weeks pay, after that, the fact they marched her out is completely irrelevant...
rancourous relations between employers and their employees is as old as employment itself...
‘Also , btw, I’m a nurse, and you’re an A Hole.’
time for you to schedule a tune-up for your sarcasm meter...
“Houston woman let go from her job as a nurse after refusing to get COVID-19 vaccine..”
Well...Fry me a liver. Getting the required shots is part of the job.
Getting a vaccine is not a “that second” decision.
Our Soldiers are not mercenaries.
They are volunteer citizens.
These citizens have to be able to trust their leaders to not waste their lives.
I don’t think I understand your point. :)
This, they cannot do. Each time a Serviceman/woman loses their life , the only ones that care are the insurance company that has to pay out the money and their relatives. The politicians do not give a damn.
You were comparing combat to getting a vaccine.
I don’t think there’s really any comparison.
She first should have gotten the antibody test, if she’s positive, NO VAX!
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She did. She had COVID and has the antibody. They don’t care.
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