Hospital scores court win over pregnant ultrasound technologist who refused to get vaccinated
NYU Langone Hospital–Long Island and its department of radiology quashed a discrimination lawsuit this week, claiming the hospital improperly terminated a former ultrasound operator for refusing to get vaccinated.
The New York institution toughened its inoculation policy in 2017 amid a challenging flu season—no longer granting employees the option of only wearing a mask—to protect immunocompromised patients. Former vascular technologist Alison LaBarbera attempted to obtain an exemption, concerned about the potential damage to her unborn baby, Bloomberg Law reported Tuesday.
She submitted a letter from her midwife, but NYU rejected the request and later terminated her. LaBarbera filed suit in November 2018, claiming her former employer violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, among other charges. But a federal court sided with the defendant March 16, unconvinced that the dismissal ran afoul of labor laws.
Judge Denis Hurley said the tech failed to provide evidence of similarly situated employees who were treated differently under the vaccination policy. And an administrator’s statement that the hospital did not accept pregnancy as a medically exempt condition is not direct evidence of an intent to discriminate, the report noted.
You can read more about the case from Bloomberg Law below (subscription required).
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.