An Ohio court maintained a legal halt on separations for airmen who requested religious exemptions to the obligatory COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday, saying that the Air Force “wrongly” rejected the waivers based on excessively broad reasoning.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling in a continuing class action lawsuit filed by around 10,000 unvaccinated active-duty, reserve, and National Guard airmen who have either had their petitions to forgo the vaccination on religious grounds refused or are currently awaiting a decision. In March, a circuit judge ordered the Department of Defense (DOD), which has mandated vaccinations for all military personnel, to refrain from penalizing or separating airmen while the complaint is pending.
The DOD “wrongly relied on its ‘broadly formulated’ reasons for the vaccine mandate to deny specific exemptions to the Plaintiffs, especially since it has granted secular exemptions to their colleagues,” the court opinion said.
Furthermore, according to the most recent judgment from Ohio’s 6th Circuit court, the Air Force established a “universal” policy of dismissing religious exemption petitions but not secular exemption requests, regardless of the requester’s unique circumstances.
A vaccination waiver request must be approved by medical specialists, a chaplain, and officials at each level of the requester’s chain of command, each of whom evaluates the individual’s unique status before making a final judgment, according to the opinion cites Air Force guidelines.
According to the judgment, the Air Force granted 135 religious exemptions out of 616 total exemptions permitted for “administrative,” or non-medical, grounds as of Nov. 1.
“The evidence is undisputed—that the Air Force has a ‘uniform’ practice of denying religious exemptions to anyone who wants to remain in the service,” it continued.
“The Department of the Air Force is complying with a court order to pause all disciplinary and adverse actions for members refusing the COVID-19 vaccine who submitted a timely religious accommodation request and fall within the definition of the court’s certified class,” an Air Force spokesperson said.