Covid Vaccine Mandate Religious Exemptions Give Hospitals Leeway

Understaffed hospitals that don’t want to lose employees to the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate have an out. They can freely accept religious exemption requests, no matter their validity, and still be compliant in the eyes of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, several labor and employment lawyers said.

Regulating religious exemptions gives health-care employers power to enact policies that balance concerns about litigation, safety, and workforce shortages as facilities enter a third year of unpredictable staffing and budget woes.

“None of these decisions are made in a vacuum or looking at just one form of risk,” said Caroline ...