CVS Health is facing a federal lawsuit from a Catholic nurse practitioner in Palm Beach, Florida, asserting religious discrimination. Gunna Kristofersdottir claims CVS suspended a religious accommodation that permitted her to refrain from prescribing contraceptives. Law firms First Liberty Institute, Boyden Gray & Associates, and Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC, are representing Kristofersdottir.
Kristofersdottir, backed by her legal team, alleges that CVS arbitrarily revoked its enduring religious accommodation of her Catholic beliefs regarding hormonal contraceptives. She argues that the sudden rescission violated employment laws designed to protect religious freedom in the workplace.
From 2014 to 2022, Kristofersdottir was allowed to avoid participating in such prescriptions while working at a CVS MinuteClinic. However, her religious accommodation was abruptly rescinded in August 2021 when CVS declared it was discontinuing all such allowances.
The lawsuit asserts that CVS could have facilitated various alternatives for Kristofersdottir, such as granting her a transfer to a COVID-19 specialty location or continuing to respect the religious accommodation that had been in place.
This is not the first time CVS has faced such allegations. A year ago, CVS was sued on similar grounds by Robyn Strader, a nurse practitioner in Texas, after her religious accommodation was nullified after more than six years.