The Patrick Wilmers Case
Patrick Wilmers was informed by his manager at Verizon Wireless, that in accordance with OSHA regulations, he would be terminated from his job for vaccine noncompliance. However, his religious counterparts were offered the opportunity to keep their jobs with testing, if they wanted a religious exemption. As an atheist, Mr. Wilmers was denied such an exemption. Mr Wilmers is demanding equal treatment , and the ability to keep his job with weekly testing.
Update: Atheists For Liberty assembled a volunteer cadre of lawyers and activists to draft a letter informing Verizon that there were large legal issues surrounding the treatment of one employee vs another based no religious belief. Two days after the letter was received, we were informed that Pat was no longer on the “to be fired” list, for now. We will be keeping a close eye on how they treat him.
As the Supreme Court has removed OSHA from the mandate equation, we now focus on companies like Verizon who may want to enact vaccine requirements, most certainly including religious exemptions. Nonreligious and “not religious enough” people are due the same rights as everyone else, and Atheists For Liberty will be the hub of that defense.
Patrick’s wife Penny is also an atheist who refused the vaccine, and she is one of the many nurses who no longer have a job, again, while some of her religious coworkers were allowed to stay. That’s two people, two different instances of religious discrimination.