EEOC Sues Silver Cross for Religious and Disability Discrimination

CHICAGO – Silver Cross Hospital, based in New Lenox, Illinois, violated federal law when it failed to provide a reasonable accommodation to employees who requested to be exempt from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine because of religious and disability reasons, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in two lawsuits filed today.

One employee, who worked in the hospital’s lab, requested a religious accommodation because taking the COVID-19 vaccine conflicted with her religious beliefs and practices. The other employee, who worked in the hospital’s insurance department, requested an accommodation based on disability after she had a severe allergic reaction to the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Silver Cross Hospital denied both employees’ requests for accommodation and retaliated against them, either by firing them or forcing them to quit, even though each could have been accommodated without undue hardship, according to the EEOC’s lawsuits.

“Absent an undue hardship, civil rights laws affirmatively require employers to accommodate an employee’s disability and religious practices,” said EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas. “Unfortunately, many employers’ vaccine mandates turned a blind eye to these long-standing civil rights laws. However, the novelty of the COVID-19 pandemic is not a shield for employers to engage in garden variety discrimination.”

The hospital’s alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and retaliation, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability. The EEOC filed the two lawsuits (EEOC v. Silver Cross Hospital, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-09015 (Title VII) and EEOC v. Silver Cross Hospital, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-09013 (ADA)) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement of each through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC seeks monetary damages for the employees, including compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive relief against the employer to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

For more information on religious discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination. For more information on disability discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination.

The EEOC’s Chicago District Office has jurisdiction over Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and North and South Dakota, with Area Offices in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.