Physician assistant Valerie Kloosterman requested a religious accommodation following mandatory diversity training at her workplace in August 2021.

Three weeks later, she was fired.

Kloosterman had worked at University of Michigan Health-West (UMHW) for 17 years. When the training session required staff to use pronouns contradicting biological sex and refer patients for gender transition procedures, she asked to be excused on religious grounds.

A diversity representative called her “evil” and told her she could not bring her faith to work.

There was no finding that she had harmed a patient, no finding that her clinical judgment was impaired and no finding that her request was unreasonable. Only a termination notice, three weeks after she asked to be excused.

Last month, UMHW agreed to pay Kloosterman $410,000 in damages and legal fees, and implement a new religious accommodation policy which protects employees’ sincerely-held religious beliefs against forced assistance with gender transition treatments or use of pronouns that contradict biological sex.

“All I wanted to do was provide the best care possible to my patients without being forced to violate my Christian beliefs,” Kloosterman said.

“This new policy ensures that providers of faith and employees at UMHW will receive religious accommodations so that they can provide excellent care consistent with their medical judgment, because all patients are created in the image of God.”

First Liberty Institute, which represented Kloosterman, said Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating against employees for their faith. The settlement did not require UMHW to concede liability. It required it to change how it operates.

The Australian pattern is recognisable. Dr Jillian Spencer, a Queensland child psychiatrist who raised clinical concerns about gender-affirming care for children, spent years under professional sanction before Queensland Health cleared her of all wrongdoing in a significant settlement.

Her concerns, the hospital acknowledged, were grounded in her clinical background.

Jasmine Sussex, a former Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor, publicly questioned “induced lactation” in transgender-identifying men.

A vilification complaint has been filed against her under Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Act and is heading to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Fair Work Act prohibits adverse action against employees on the basis of religion, but no Australian employer has been required to change its policies in the way UMHW has. It took 17 years of exemplary service, a termination, a federal lawsuit, and a $410,000 settlement to make that point in Michigan.

HRLA continues to represent Jasmine Sussex as her case proceeds toward QCAT.