A lawsuit from a group of former Kaiser Foundation employees asserts they were unconstitutionally and illegally fired because they refused to take the Covid vaccine, which they said was only an experimental medical therapy, approved under an emergency use authorization, and therefore could not be legally or constitutionally mandated.
Defendants in the lawsuit include Kaiser and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as other California state officials.
"In August of 2021, Kaiser policy makers issued a despicable illegal mandate that shocked the conscience," states the lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court. "In direct contravention to federal law governing investigational drugs, Kaiser PolicyMakers subjected a workforce of more than 200,000 people to investigational drug use under threat of penalty and outside of their free will and voluntary consent."
Employees who refused to comply with the vaccine mandate "would be segregated, penalized, humiliated, terminated, and denied unemployment benefits, thus depriving Plaintiffs of their Constitutional and federal statutory right to refuse an investigational drug without penalty," the suit states.
It seeks general and punitive damages including for back pay; loss of benefits; loss of accumulated sick pay; loss of retirement accounts; lost earnings on retirement funds; vacation time, compensatory time, and paid time off, plus attorney fees.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorney David J.Schexnaydre, of Schexnaydre Law Firm, of Mandeville, Louisiana, and attorney Jennifer W. Kennedy, of Sierra Madre.
Horsley v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Inc. et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 4:23-cv-05628.