From Staff Reports 

A complaint was filed April 28 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Asheville’s Mission Hospital, accusing it of religious discrimination.

Specifically, the EEOC is accusing the hospital of violating federal law for firing three workers who declined — on religious grounds — to adhere to the hospital’s annual flu vaccine requirement and refused the shot. 

Mission’s human resources department denied the religious-exemption requests because the former employees submitted them after a Sept. 1 deadline, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

“Under federal law, employers must attempt a fair balance between an employee’s right to practice his or her religion and the operation of their business,” according to Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for EEOC’s Charlotte District Office.

“An arbitrary deadline does not protect an employer from its obligation to provide a religious accommodation,” Barnes added. “An employer must consider, at the time it receives a request for a religious accommodation, whether the request can be granted with undue burden.”

A Mission spokeswoman told local news media that the hospital’s policy exists to protect patients and help doctors deliver care.