UPDATE: The District Court of Tulsa County granted the emergency temporary restraining order just hours after the announcement, stopping Ascension from carrying through with the terminations.

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ORIGINAL STORY:

The State of Oklahoma files a lawsuit to block Ascension Healthcare from carrying out its plan to fire employees who have been denied religious exemptions from its nationwide COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Attorney General John O'Connor says this is a move to protect Oklahoma's faithful frontline healthcare heroes from religious discrimination. O'Connor says Ascension was virtually denying most if not all of requests for exemptions based upon sincerely held religious beliefs. He says they cannot tolerate discrimination on the basis of religion; he says they do not want over 100 employees to lose their jobs.

While Ascension has been a great partner throughout Oklahoma, O'Connor says they have to do what is right. O'Connor says they have asked the District Court of Tulsa County to enter an emergency temporary restraining order, stopping Ascension from carrying through with its terminations of healthcare heroes. He says the employees filed for religious exemptions and to work under alternative means, such as masking and regular COVID-19 testing as opposed to getting the shot.

This past summer, Ascension mandated that all of its healthcare workers receive a COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 12 or be fired. O'Connor says Ascension planned to fire employees who have not been granted a religious exemption by Nov. 12.

O'Connor says his problem is not with the vaccine. He says his objection is with the word "mandate," and the federal government telling Oklahomans that they have to get the vaccine or risk losing their job. This is why the State of Oklahoma is opposing the Biden Administration's federal contractor mandates regarding vaccines.

Ascension, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, operates hospitals and healthcare facilities in 19 states and the District of Columbia, including Oklahoma.