#Religious vaccine exemption letter nc how to#

“All students 2 and older are required to wear face masks at all times while indoors on school property except while eating, drinking, or carrying out other activities that preclude use of face masks,” the order reads. There’s also an entire page devoted to rules about masks. It details the steps schools must take to protect students, teachers and other staffers, including rules about vaccination, testing, physical distancing, air filtration and disinfection, among many other topics. Los Angeles County’s public health order includes a 17-page document focused entirely on K-12 schools. Track California’s coronavirus spread and vaccination efforts - including the latest numbers and how they break down - with our graphics. By the numbersĬalifornia cases and deaths as of 5:40 p.m. “They didn’t want to vaccinate and went looking for something that sounds convincing as a way to get out of it,” she said. But Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Hastings College of the Law who studies legal issues related to vaccines, said there’s little doubt that many of the people submitting cut-and-paste exemption requests see them as a means to an end.

To be sure, there are people who find form letters a useful tool for articulating their complicated yet sincere religious beliefs. Among the false claims: that COVID-19 vaccines are a form of gene therapy, and that they contain “animal parts” or “the DNA of a male aborted baby.” And some include arguments that aren’t factually correct. Some form letters cite objections that aren’t rooted in religion.

#Religious vaccine exemption letter nc how to#

The church also offers a class that advises students how to respond “if they say, ‘You got this off the internet,’” among other topics. The $195 fee covers a package of services that includes weekly group calls. Mihet told my colleagues it’s normal for lawyers to draft statements that clients can claim as their own.ĭavid Hall, the pastor from True Hope Ministry, said the letter obtained by the DWP employee wasn’t for sale. All that really matters is that their religious belief is sincere. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says employers should take “reasonable” steps to eliminate a “conflict between religion and work” if doing so won’t create an “undue hardship.” The laws apply even if an employee isn’t devout and isn’t associated with a mainstream faith. The tactic works because both state and federal laws have created strong protections for religious freedom in the workplace. The more than 2,200 pages of letters, emails and other records they received make clear that a cottage industry has sprung up to help people evade the COVID-19 vaccine by citing their religious beliefs. Nelson and Connor Sheets obtained the letter through public records requests to the DWP and other public employers. Granting the exemption is the only way to comply with federal laws against religious discrimination in the workplace, the pastor wrote. That’s what it costs to get an official-looking letter stating that any rule forcing a worker to get vaccinated is an “affront to a Christian.” The same goes for coronavirus testing requirements and even policies that say employees must wear face masks, the pastor of True Hope Ministry in San Clemente explained.Īn employee of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power gave the letter to his bosses to justify his request for exemption from the agency’s vaccine mandate. As some have discovered, divine intervention can be had for $195. Thousands of unvaccinated Californians are hoping that divine intervention will spare them from having to comply with their employers’ COVID-19 vaccine mandates.