A Detroit-area health system was sued by fifty employees in a complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan Monday. The complaint said that the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS)’s requirement that all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
According to the complaint, HFHS will suspend unvaccinated employees on September 1, and gives them a full month to remedy non-compliance. The plaintiffs comprise physicians, nurses, pharmacy technicians, and administrative employees, among other roles.
The plaintiffs claim that “The Mandate requires that Plaintiffs choose between exposing themselves to potential harm or death or abandon their careers in health care.” They rely on an anonymous affidavit from a computer programmer, stating that morbidity associated with the COVID-19 vaccines is underreported.
The plaintiffs argue that HFHS is violating the Fourteenth Amendment, even though it is a government actor. They reason that the stated purpose of the hospitals’ vaccine mandate is to protect the public health, which the plaintiffs say is a state function.
The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction blocking the mandate and a declaration that it is unconstituionial. They are represented by VonAllmen & Associates, PLLC.