A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Los Angeles County psychologist who sued her ex-employer, alleging she was wrongfully fired for objecting to being tested for as well as to being vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The plaintiff is identified only as L.J. in the Los Angeles Superior Court whistleblower suit, in which she objected to the shot on religious grounds.
On Friday, Judge Holly Fujie granted the county’s motion to toss the case. In her ruling, the judge noted that L.J. contended she could not undergo a COVID-19 test as an alternative because she did not have any symptoms and that she did not want to go “along with this idea that everybody is sick or everybody needs to worry about fear of death and dying because in her religion it is a `blessing to die in a states of grace with God’ and that no one lives forever.
“Thus, her statements demonstrate a purely secular reasoning for refusing to test; namely, she did not believe it was necessary,” Fujie further wrote.
The judge also said that L.J. did not dispute that she was aware that her suspension and termination were due to her failure to comply with the county’s requirements to test and register her vaccination status rather than for her failure to vaccinate.
L.J. was hired as a clinical psychologist in the county Department of Mental Health in August 2012 and received awards and recognition for her mental health presentations, the suit stated. In August 2021, she requested a remote working accommodation and vaccination religious exemption accommodation forms, but did not receive them for several weeks, the suit stated.
The plaintiff was approved for remote working in late October 2021, but the county sent her emails urging her to comply with the vaccination rule, according to the suit. She was suspended for five days without pay in December 2021 for her alleged non-compliance with the vaccine mandate, prompting her to file a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the suit stated.
The psychologist also appealed her discipline to the county’s Department of Personnel, but her argument was rejected in February 2022, and after the plaintiff’s assertion that she may have to file an additional EEOC complaint, she received a notice of intent to discharge her for alleged failure to comply with the vaccination policy, the suit stated.
L.J. was never notified in writing of the outcome of her request for a religious exemption accommodation from the county’s worker vaccination mandate and she presented no threat to the health or safety of any county employee because she worked remotely from home, the suit stated.
In a sworn declaration, L.J. said she was “aware from reputable scholarly sources that aborted fetal cells were in fact used in the COVID-19 vaccine” and she contended that her termination for not registering and testing for the virus was “discriminatory, retaliatory and in bad faith,” and not for any legitimate business reason.
The plaintiff and her union representative attended a due process hearing, but she received a notice of termination anyway that became effective in March 2022, the suit stated. She has experienced severe anxiety and depression since losing her job and will likely have trouble finding comparable employment at age 50, the suit stated.
Within the Department of Mental Health, five other employees in addition to L.J. also failed to comply with the coronavirus testing and/or registration requirements and they, too, were terminated, according to the county attorneys’ court papers.
The COVID vaccine does not prevent people from contracting or spreading the virus, but health officials say it reduces the likelihood of severe symptoms or death for those who are infected.