LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Los Angeles General Medical Center nurse who alleged she was wrongfully suspended in 2022 and suffered lost wages because she sought and was denied a religious exemption to the mandatory coronavirus vaccination has reached a tentative settlement in her lawsuit against Los Angeles County.
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An attorney for Elena Delaney Gonzales filed court papers Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jon R. Takasugi notifying him of a "conditional" resolution in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Sept. 5. No terms were divulged. It was not immediately clear whether the settlement is subject to final approval by the Board of Supervisors.
In her lawsuit filed in September 2023, Gonzales alleged the county unlawfully denied her a religious exemption to the coronavirus shot and refused to engage in a good-faith interactive process. She further contended she was wrongly reassigned from her direct-patient care position to one with no patient contact.
Gonzales was suspended without pay for five days in November 2022 for not being vaccinated and was told when she came back that she could be fired if she still refused to get the shot, the suit stated.
Attorneys for the county, who had earlier filed a motion to dismiss Gonzales' suit, contended that although Gonzales claimed to be Catholic, she acknowledged she had not attended Mass for about two years and that she "brainstormed" with others before submitting her exemption request.
"Plaintiff refused the vaccine because she thought that the cold virus is similar to COVID-19, and, consequently, that her God-given immune system was sufficient to protect her," county attorneys argued in their court papers while also stating that Gonzales did not provide information clarifying her religious exemption request despite the opportunity to do so after it was denied by human resources.
When the state Department of Public Health determined that the COVID- 19 vaccine need no longer be mandated for healthcare workers statewide, Gonzales was returned to her direct-patient care assignment and had no change in salary or position, according to the county lawyers' court papers.
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