From Washa v. Actalent Scientific, LLC, decided two weeks ago by Minnesota Court of Appeals Chief Judge Susan Segal and Judges Peter Reyes and Randall Slieter, but just posted on Westlaw:
Actalent Scientific employed Washa and placed him as a medical lab technician with North Memorial Clinics. On January 3, 2022, North Memorial terminated Washa's assignment because he refused to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination as required by North Memorial's policies. Washa had requested an exemption from the vaccine requirement, but it was denied….
Washa was denied unemployment benefits, administratively appealed, and participated in a hearing before the ULJ [unemployment law judge]. When the ULJ asked Washa about his reasons for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, Washa testified:
[I]t's a matter of not wanting to be defiled. It's like the God that actually comes, like, has a spot in me, and I need to keep the spot good, otherwise he's not as able to enter as well, where ultimately I could go to hell over it. But it's a matter of purity of a person's body. Body is a temple type belief.
Washa testified that he had not received any vaccines for the past 15 years. Washa testified that his beliefs derive from the Bible and that he attends a Bible study with a group of friends about once every two weeks to "go over the Bible in different ways." …
