CHARLESTON – A Hurricane man has sued Charleston Area Medical Center for forcing him to choose between the COVID-19 vaccine and his job.
Charles Miller filed his complaint in federal court. He called CAMC’s actions “unnecessary” and “draconian.”
According to the complaint, Miller was employed by CAMC as a respiratory therapist. He worked for CAMC for more than 30 years.
In September 2021, he says CAMC implemented a policy requiring all employees be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to comply with a federal CMS mandate. CAMC allowed employees to seek religious and/or medical exemptions from the mandate.
Miller submitted an exemption request on September 11, 2021, for both medical and religious reasons. As a member of the United Methodist church, Miller says he holds sincere religious exemptions to the vaccine because it uses aborted fetal cells in production.
“Partaking in a vaccine made from aborted fetuses makes me complicit in an action that offends my religious faith,” Miller wrote in his request. “As such, I cannot, in good conscience and in accord with my religious faith, take any such COVID vaccine at this time.
In addition, he said the vaccine is a gene therapy with the potential to alter DNA, which he says is a violation of God’s will and his bodily autonomy. He and his physician also said heart issues and high blood pressure prevented him from safely receiving the vaccine.
CAMC’s deadline for vaccination was pushed back, and Miller made a second exemption request in February 2022. It was denied. He was given a statement saying he would be terminated if he remained unvaccinated.
Miller was fired February 24, 2022. He filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination on the basis of disability and religion. He received a Notice of Right To Sue in January.
He accuses CAMC of religious discrimination, disability discrimination, violations of the West Virginia Human Rights Act for religious and disability discrimination and for violating state code.
Miller seeks a finding that he has a fundamental right to bodily autonomy to make health decisions based on his religious beliefs and conscience as well as a finding that CAMC discriminated against him in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans With Disability Act and state code. He also seeks reinstatement to his job, compensatory damages including front pay and back pay as well as for emotional distress. He also seeks court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
He also wants the court to enjoin CAMC from taking any further adverse employment actions against him and from taking any similar discriminatory adverse employment actions against other employees.
Miller is being represented by Robert Barnes and Lexis Anderson of Barnes Law in Los Angeles and by John H. Bryan from Union.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:23-cv-00340