The University of Michigan Health-West (UMHW) has reached a settlement with an employee who was fired after raising concerns about mandatory gender-identity training in 2021.
The hospital system fired former employee and physician assistant Valerie Kloosterman because she said she would be unwilling to use preferred pronouns and would not refer patients for gender-transition procedures, according to a 2022 letter sent to the UMHW by First Liberty Institute, who represented Kloosterman.
The settlement, announced Wednesday, requires the hospital system to pay $410,000 in damages and fees to Kloosterman, create a religious accommodation policy, and notify and train all of its employees and grant “reasonable religious accommodations without retaliation,” according to First Liberty Institute, a legal organization that defends religious freedom….