True North Legal and Upper Midwest Law Center Take Legal Action Against Brookdale Senior Living’s Discriminatory Vaccine Mandate
(Minneapolis, MN) Daniel Reinke was a sales and marketing manager at Brookdale Senior Living Center in North Oaks, Minnesota. Mr. Reinke is also a devout Catholic, and like many others, objects to the COVID-19 vaccinations, because they are either developed or tested using cell lines from aborted fetuses. Brookdale is a massive corporation, with over 60,000 employees nationwide. As a devout Catholic, Mr. Reinke has a strong religious objection to abortion, and believes getting any of the vaccines required by Brookdale’s mandatory vaccine policy would make him complicit with abortion. So, Mr. Reinke asked for a religious accommodation based on his Christian beliefs—an exemption to Brookdale’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Brookdale refused to accommodate Mr. Reinke, and instead put him on unpaid leave and threatened to fire him if he didn’t get a COVID-19 vaccination, even though it granted exemptions to at least one other employee with Buddhist beliefs.
This blatant religious discrimination violates Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, as well as the Minnesota Human Rights Act. TNL and UMLC thus teamed up to fight for Mr. Reinke’s right to exercise his religious beliefs. While Mr. Reinke has endured hardship from Brookdale’s actions, Mr. Reinke says this isn’t just about him. “I cannot sit back and allow Brookdale to trample on the rights of religious employees choosing to act in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs. While I’m standing up for myself and my family, my actions are for the greater good. I’m fighting on behalf of everyone who has suffered from this kind of religious discrimination.”
True North Legal (TNL) and UMLC have submitted a charge against Brookdale to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because of the corporation’s discriminatory practices.
“All I asked from Brookdale was to be treated fairly according to the law and equally with my co-workers,” said Mr. Reinke about the charge. “Instead, Brookdale granted exemptions for others based on different religious beliefs and argued and fought with me over whether my beliefs were truly sincere. This kind of discrimination should never happen in this country, and I look forward to the EEOC correcting Brookdale‘s discriminatory ways.“
Renee Carlson, General Counsel for True North Legal, an attorney handling the case, said: “Religious freedom benefits everyone. If we want freedom ourselves, we need to extend it to others, even when we disagree. Regardless of your position on vaccines, we can all agree that corporations cannot and should not force people to violate their religious beliefs. Do we really want to live in a society where private corporations, like Brookdale, believe they know more about Catholic doctrine than Minnesota’s Archbishop?”
James Dickey, Senior Trial Counsel for the Upper Midwest Law Center, an attorney also working on the case, said: “There is no room in the United States for discrimination between people of different faiths. If businesses want to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their employees, they cannot ignore Title VII. They still need to accommodate sincere religious objections, especially because employees can mask and take the same COVID-19 precautions that were acceptable less than a year ago. Further, companies like Brookdale cannot use fear and coercion to avoid complying with federal law just because they disagree with employees’ religious beliefs.”
The charge was submitted to the EEOC on December 18, 2021. Mr. Reinke is seeking back pay, interest, and attorney’s fees based on his discrimination claim. A copy of the charge is available here.
After the EEOC investigates, UMLC and TNL expect to proceed with further legal action.
About True North Legal
True North Legal is a non-profit legal organization advocating on behalf of all Minnesotans by promoting and defending the family, human dignity, and religious freedom, through litigation, education initiatives, and engagement in public policy.
About Upper Midwest Law Center
Upper Midwest Law Center is a non-profit, public interest law firm which initiates pro-freedom litigation to protect against constitutional violations, government overreach, special interest agendas and public union corruption and abuses.
TNL and UMLC are both 501(c)(3) organizations.
To learn more about True North Legal, click here.
To learn more about Upper Midwest Law Center, click here.
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