A hospital employee who works in patient care areas may be terminated for refusing on religious grounds to take a flu vaccine, the federal District Court in Massachusetts has ruled. The Court has found that the hospital sought to make a reasonable accommodation and that granting the employee’s request would have been an undue hardship.
An appellate court in New Jersey has reversed a trial court and ordered members of a mosque in Passaic County to arbitrate members’ claims of improper use of organizational funds. It has held that the participating members were subject to the “private law” set out in the bylaws of their voluntary association.
A largely dormant nonprofit corporation has been taken over by 60 new members who paid their $25 annual dues, called a special meeting of members, voted out the old board of directors and replaced them with a new slate of their own choosing.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has joined with the Third Circuit in holding that a retirement plan established and maintained by a church-affiliated hospital system is not within the statutory definition of a “church plan” exempt from the requirements of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”). (See Nonprofit Issues, Employment Law, 2/16.)
The Supreme Court of Michigan has held that the state’s Whistleblower Protection Act does not protect an employee who is terminated because she reported a coworker’s plan to violate a law in the future. The “plain language” of the Act provides protection only against retaliation for a report of an act or conduct that has actually occurred or is ongoing, the Court said.
Does a Little League baseball team owe a duty to a parent-spectator who trips in a “divot” near the batting cage and breaks her leg? By a 4-1 vote, a majority of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island has said “no”. A single Justice has dissented.
A suit contesting an election at the Association of Philippine Physicians in America Foundation has been dismissed by a federal district court in Kentucky when the plaintiffs did not follow the procedures to bring a derivative action or allege current or future personal harm. (Pagtakhan-So v. Cueto, E.D. KY, No. 5:14-370, 2/16/16.)
A claim by 26 intestate heirs seeking to invalidate a $1.45 million family educational trust, which would make the money available to them, has been denied by an appellate court in Louisiana. The Court has held that the language of the will was sufficient to establish the trust. (Succession of Henderson, Ct. of App., LA, No. 50,475-CA, 2/24/16.)
