FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Contact:
Chris Mulcahey
UMLC Cites the Religious Discrimination Against a Twenty-Four Year Employee by the Federal Reserve
Golden Valley, MN – The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), on behalf of Officer Rodney Maki, sent a letter today to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis demanding that the Fed reverse its placement of Officer Maki on unpaid leave and its threats of the termination of his employment based on his religious objection to receiving a COVID-19 vaccination produced or tested using fetal cells.
“I have faithfully worked for the Minneapolis Fed for almost 24 years, said Rodney Maki. “I am stunned that the Minneapolis Fed has disregarded my years of service and is trying to fire me based on my religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine. I have made every effort to try to work with the Fed, including offering creative solutions to reduce my contact with the public, and offering to wear a Fed-issued mask and test regularly. The Fed has done nothing but reject my attempts with little to no explanation. This discrimination has to stop.”
In July 2021, the Fed announced that it would be requiring employees to receive one of the available vaccines against COVID-19 as a condition of continuing employment. Initially, the Fed granted Officer Maki a religious exemption then reversed the accommodation. On January 7, 2022, the Fed put Officer Maki on unpaid leave and threatened to terminate his employment on January 22, 2022.
“The Minneapolis Fed acknowledged that Officer Maki had a sincere religious objection to the COVID-19 vaccine and provided him an accommodation based on that objection for months, with no problems,” said James Dickey, Senior Trial Counsel for UMLC. “The Fed then suddenly pulled the rug out from under him and threatened to fire him. This absurd policy change will not hold up in federal court.”
If the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis does not reverse its religious discrimination, the Upper Midwest Law Center will file a charge on Officer Maki’s behalf with the Equal Employee Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and pursue further legal action.
For more information, please see the demand letter.
Upper Midwest Law Center is a non-profit, public interest law firm with the mission to initiate pro-freedom litigation to protect against constitutional violations, government overreach, special interest agendas and public union corruption and abuses. UMLC is a 501(c)(3) organization.
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