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Prominent Rhode Island private attorney, Gregory Piccirilli, this morning filed lawsuits  in state Superior Court against three major medical corporations and five other smaller entities on behalf of 78 hospital and medical staff, who were fired by their private employers for not complying with RI Department of Health’s 2021 health care worker Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

Noting in the complaints that nothing in the RIDOH regulation required employers of health care workers to terminate unvaccinated employees on or after its October 1, 2021 effective date, Piccirilli filed a complaint against Lifespan Corporation (32 plaintiffs), Chartercare Health Partners (4 plaintiffs), and Care New England (37 plaintiffs).

The similar complaints further asserts that nothing in the government mandate prohibited employers of health care workers from granting accommodations to employees on the basis of their religious beliefs, and that the three defendant corporations “refused to engage in an interactive process with Plaintiffs
regarding their religious or disability exemption requests …”

PROGRAM NOTE: Piccirilli and 4 plaintiffs conducted an in depth interview with Mike Stenhouse on his In The Dugout video podcast. Click here to watch.

Per the complaints, “Each of the Plaintiffs has a sincerely held religious belief against taking the COVID-19 vaccine as the reason for their denial to take the COVID-19 vaccine, or had a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act which prevented them from taking the COVID-19 vaccine.”

The plaintiffs claim to have suffered “lost pay, and … adverse employment conditions” and seek a judgment against the defendants, including reinstatement to their position, with back pay and benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney’s fees and costs.

Piccirilli has previously served as lead attorney for dozens of plaintiffs in related vaccine and school mask mandates, representing parents, teachers, and other public employees. He is one of the few attorneys nationwide to have won such cases, or reached beneficial settlements, against the government’s unconstitutional over-reach during the pandemic.

Now Piccirilli is taking on private entities who themselves over-reached in response to the government mandate.