Raleigh-based UNC Rex has agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit that said the hospital fired a remote employee who declined a COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds. According to the case filings, the worker was denied a religious exemption despite previously receiving one for the flu vaccine and was terminated in November 2021 after repeated requests. The deal wraps up a multi-year federal dispute over how hospitals handled religious-accommodation requests during pandemic-era vaccine mandates.
Settlement filed in federal court
The parties signed an agreement that requires UNC Rex to pay $150,000 to resolve the EEOC's claims, as reported by Law360. The settlement papers identify the matter as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Rex Healthcare, No. 5:24-cv-00739-BO, and bring the active litigation to a close while keeping the court available to enforce any settlement terms. According to Law360, the resolution ends the EEOC’s December 2024 complaint, which alleged Rex denied a religious accommodation and later terminated the employee for not complying with the vaccine policy.
What Rex says
UNC Health Rex told local reporters it “fully complies with federal law related to religious accommodations” and pointed out that it has more than 6,500 teammates, according to CBS17. Local employment attorneys interviewed by the station described the outcome as in line with other EEOC enforcement actions over vaccine-mandate disputes. One practitioner noted that employers generally must try to accommodate “sincerely held religious beliefs unless accommodation causes undue hardship.”
EEOC's claims
The EEOC’s lawsuit stated that Rex’s 2021 policy required employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine unless they obtained a disability or religious exemption, according to a press release from the EEOC. The agency said a remote worker submitted multiple written requests for a religious exemption that were denied, and that the employee was ultimately fired on Nov. 3, 2021, after those denials. The EEOC sought relief under Title VII, including back pay and damages, and chose to pursue the matter through litigation rather than relying solely on conciliation.
Legal implications
The case was docketed in federal court as EEOC v. Rex Healthcare, No. 5:24-cv-00739-BO. Public court records reflect motions and an April 2025 order related to early challenges in the case, which underscored that the EEOC pressed its claims beyond the administrative stage, per court reporting. That docket activity, together with the fact that the settlement was filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina, gives the agreement the practical effect of a court-filed resolution that employers and legal counsel are expected to review for precedent and compliance lessons, according to the record.
EEOC regional staff emphasized that employer vaccine rules must still allow for religious accommodations when feasible, and the agency has continued to bring similar cases. The EEOC press release reiterates the agency’s view that employers must provide reasonable accommodations except where doing so would result in undue hardship. For now, the settlement ends the dispute between UNC Rex and the EEOC, even as it joins a growing list of enforcement actions that workplaces and HR teams are likely to revisit when shaping their religious-accommodation processes.
