A class action lawsuit has been filed against Phoenix Children’s Hospital for unlawfully disclosing information regarding employees’ vaccine exemption status. The breach of privacy initially occurred when a hospital administrator sent an email to employees who were approved for either a medical or religious exemption from the company’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
According to the lawsuit, on October 15, 2021 Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) employee Holly Tomassini sent an email to 368 people on behalf of PCH’s VP of Employee & Physician Relations, Steve Schuster, disclosing which PCH employees had received a medical or religious exemption to the Vaccine Mandate.”
That information was then allegedly shared on social media.
“Employers who ask their employees for sensitive and private health information have a duty to safeguard that information. This is especially so with respect to vaccination status and objections which are among the most sensitive pieces of health information in our current hotly charged political climate. It unfortunately appears that PCH has not fulfilled this important obligation,” said the employees’ attorney Alexander Kolodin of the Davillier Law Group.
At issue is whether the breach was an invasion of privacy and whether PCH knew or should have known the information was private, and whether such disclosure would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.
As the Arizona Daily Independent previously reported, in July, PCH issued a statement confirming a company-wide vaccination deadline of Oct. 1 for its 6,500 member workforce, including volunteers and non-employee contractors. At the time, the hospital claimed that “a majority of our staff is already fully vaccinated” and that the company would push to have the remaining employees vaccinated before Oct. 1.
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