Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, applauded Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor for bringing a lawsuit designed to protect Oklahoma healthcare workers.

Recently, in an effort to protect Oklahoma healthcare workers from religious discrimination, O’Connor filed a lawsuit on behalf of the State of Oklahoma to block Ascension Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest healthcare networks, from carrying out its plan to fire employees who have been unfairly denied religious exemptions from Ascension’s nationwide COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

“On July 15th, 2021, 20 of my colleagues and I sent a letter to Governor Stitt encouraging him to act to protect the inherent rights of our healthcare heroes,” said Roberts. “The governor, unfortunately, never acted on our letter, which is why the Attorney General is now having to act on their behalf. I would like to applaud Attorney General O’Connor for protecting our state’s healthcare heroes, although this action will only protect those employees at Ascension St. John.

“Unfortunately, so many more employees across all sectors in the state face the same issue and have no recourse for their denied exemptions. To protect all Oklahomans, some of us in the legislature attempted to add COVID-19 issues to the special session without approval from the governor. I want to thank Sens. Merrick, Bergstrom, Dahm, Jett, Standridge and Hamilton, along with Reps. Williams, Hardin, Olsen, McDugle, Conley, and Stearman for joining me in standing up and attempting to add COVID-19 issues to this November special session.”