JANESVILLE, Wis. – Nearly two months after a number of Rock Haven Nursing Home employees were laid off for refusing to take a county-mandated Coronavirus vaccine, they, along with a lawyer are fighting for payback.
Fitchburg-based attorney Michael Anderson says a staff member contacted him the moment they learned they’d be required to get a vaccine.
“I look into it, and I very quickly determined that it’s not legal, and they can’t do it,” Anderson said. “It’s an Emergency Use Authorization drug. There’s three of them now, but none are FDA approved, so it’s improper.”
While Wisconsin DHS says workplace environments have the right to mandate a vaccine, Anderson says the EUA label changes things.
“It’s illegal to force an employee to take any EUA drug that they don’t want to,” he said. “They certainly can’t retaliate. They can’t dock you. They can’t write you up for violating company policy. They certainly can’t terminate you and they certainly can’t lay you off, but that’s what’s happened.”
Nearly 30 staff members have left since the mandate began. Anderson said his main goal is to get them their job back.
“We are nearly six weeks or so out from people not receiving a paycheck anymore simply because they said ‘I don’t want to be vaccinated against my will’,” he said. “My clients don’t give a crap about making law, they just want their jobs back and they want someone to tell them they’re sorry and they were wrong.”
However, if staff are not given their jobs back, Anderson said they have an opportunity to file suit against the county.
County Administrator Josh Smith declined comment on the topic.
“Here we are, a year later, and the same people that were held up to be heroes are the ones getting thrown to the curb because there’s some arbitrary and BS policy that doesn’t jive at all with federal law,” Anderson said. “Nor does it agree with well established constitutional principles of their right to privacy and one’s right to do what they want with their body.”
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