It came after many colleges and universities announced plans to conduct the fall semester online, throwing the fate of international students into turmoil.Ĭatholic institutions praised the reversal of the directive. The directive, which was announced July 6, denied visas to international students with an exclusively online course load. Paul, Minn., / 10:32 am ( CNA).- A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement directive that would have forced thousands of international students to leave the country has been rescinded after it was challenged by a litany of lawsuits. John in Tulsa, who applied for a religious exemption within the deadlines imposed by Ascension, but his request was repeatedly denied, court documents state.ĭuininck, a practicing Christian, says he filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights Enforcement after Ascension denied his request on two occasions. One such complainant is Mitchell Duininck, a physician at Ascension St. Healthcare workers who applied for religious exemption were “flatly rejected by Ascension,” O’Connor contended in a press release on Friday. 12 in response to a lawsuit filed that same day by the State of Oklahoma, which accused Ascension of religious discrimination. LaFortune granted a temporary restraining order in Tulsa District Court on Nov. The attorney general’s letter demands that Ascension “immediately cease and desist its defiance of the court’s temporary restraining order,” allow the attorney general’s office time to investigate allegations of religious discrimination, immediately reinstate all suspended employees who applied for a religious exemption, and place employees on their normal work schedule.Īscension did not respond to CNA’s request for comment. Ascension is not affiliated with Ascension Press, a Catholic multimedia publisher based in Pennsylvania. “As a healthcare provider and as a Catholic ministry, ensuring we have a culture of safety for our associates, patients and communities is foundational to our work,” the mandate says. 12, 2021 or risk suspension, and eventual termination on Jan. The mandate required all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza by Nov. Louis-based Ascension, which operates hospitals in Oklahoma, 18 other states, and the District of Columbia, implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on July 27. John temporarily reversed its decision to suspend the employees, before resuming the suspensions the same day. “Ascension’s actions will also interrupt patient care and prevent patients from being treated by the provider of their choice.” “It appears that Ascension is determined to trample on the sincerely held religious beliefs of the healthcare heroes it employs despite the court’s clear mandate,” O’Connor said in the cease and desist letter.
12 despite a state court’s emergency temporary restraining order prohibiting the group from taking action against employees who requested, but were denied, a religious exemption to the hospital’s vaccine mandate. John, a hospital in Tulsa, reportedly suspended the employees without pay Nov.
Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor on Monday issued a cease and desist letter to Ascension, after the Catholic healthcare group reportedly suspended an unspecified number of employees who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine before a Nov.
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