Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging That Firing Pharmacist Who Would Not Fill Prescriptions For Contraceptives Is Religious Discrimination

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 08 Jun 2006 - 10:00 PDT

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U.S. District Judge John Shabaz on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Neil Noesen, a pharmacist who refused to fill oral contraceptive prescriptions and claimed that a Wal-Mart store in Onalaska, Wis., fired him because of religious discrimination, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Noesen, who represented himself in the suit, argued that Wal-Mart and Medical Staffing Agency -- a staffing agency that placed Noesen at the store as a temporary pharmacist -- violated an agreement that he and the agency signed allowing him to decline to fill prescriptions of emergency contraception, the AP/Star Tribune reports. Shabaz in his ruling wrote that Wal-Mart and the Medical Staffing Agency did accommodate Noesen's religious opposition to EC -- which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse -- by having other pharmacists fill prescriptions for the medication. Shabaz added that Noesen's termination was justified because he failed to meet Wal-Mart's expectations as an employee when he refused to help women who called or arrived at the pharmacy and had prescriptions for oral contraceptives. Noesen in 2002 was reprimanded by the state Pharmacy Examining Board after he refused to fill an oral contraceptive prescription while he was working as a substitute pharmacist at a Kmart pharmacy (Foley, AP/Star Tribune, 6/2).

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