FRESNO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - Faced with an order by state health authorities to verify the Covid-19 vaccination status of all school workers in 2021, an elementary school had no choice but to fire a teacher who refused to disclose her medical records or submit to weekly Covid testing, a California appeals court ruled.
Gloria Elizabeth Rossi sued Sequoia Union Elementary School after she was first placed on unpaid leave and then fired in July 2022 for failing to abide by school rules. Rossi claimed the school violated California Section 56.20(b), which says employees can’t be discriminated against for refusing to sign an authorization for release of medical records.
That law goes on to say employers can “take such action as necessary in the absence of medical information.” The school interpreted to that mean it couldn’t allow Rossi into the classroom without violating the state health officer order requiring teachers to be vaccinated. Rossi refused the schools offer to allow her to teach remotely or to submit to weekly testing to teach in person.
A trial court dismissed her case and the Fifth Appellate District Court upheld in an Aug. 25 decision.
Rossi argued her case shouldn’t have been dismissed because there were still fact questions for a jury to decide, such as whether the school’s disciplinary actions were “necessary.”
Reasonable people might disagree about the meaning of “necessary,” the appeals court said, but not in this case.
“An employer demonstrates that it acted out of a legal necessity to comply with a lawful order—as opposed to acting based on a general business necessity—the exception’s application can be determined as a matter of law,” the court concluded.