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SANDRA SABASTIAN-ANDRES,
Petitioner,
v.
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General,
Respondent. |
No. 23-3606 |
On Petition for Review from the Board of Immigration Appeals.
No. A 208 866 482
Decided and Filed: March 20, 2024
Before: KETHLEDGE, READLER, and BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judge. Sandra Sabastian-Andres, an indigenous Mayan
Akateko woman from Guatemala now living in the United States, applied for asylum,
withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. The Immigration
Judge denied all three claims for relief, and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed.
The Board agreed with the Immigration Judge that Sabastian-Andres did not demonstrate a
nexus between her particular social group and the harm she experienced and did not show that
the government of Guatemala acquiesced in her mistreatment there. Because the Board’s
conclusions were supported by substantial evidence, we deny her petition for review. |
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FRANK SAVEL, named Plaintiff 1, and NAMED
PLAINTIFFS 2–46, on their own behalf and on behalf of
all others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
THE METROHEALTH SYSTEM,
Defendant-Appellee. |
No. 23-3672 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 1:22-cv-02154—James S. Gwin, District Judge.
Argued: February 1, 2024
Decided and Filed: March 20, 2024
Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; CLAY, and BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judge. The MetroHealth System, an Ohio hospital, denied all
employee requests for religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. It granted
some employee requests for medical exemptions. A little over a month later, MetroHealth
changed its mind about the religious exemption requests and granted all of them. Frank Savel, a
former MetroHealth employee who resigned shortly after the hospital rejected his religious
exemption request, sued MetroHealth for religious discrimination. He argued that the exemption
process—especially the blanket denial of religious exemptions—violated Title VII and Ohio
Revised Code § 4112. Forty-five other current or former employees joined him. Most still
worked at MetroHealth when they filed their complaint, but some had resigned for reasons
related to the exemption process.
The district court dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to
state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The court reasoned that the plaintiffs who were
still employed at MetroHealth when they filed their complaint had no standing to sue and, in the
alternative, that they failed to state claims under Title VII and § 4112. It concluded that the
plaintiffs who resigned by the time the complaint was filed did have standing, but that they also
failed to state claims under Title VII and § 4112. The plaintiffs appeal, arguing that they have
standing and that they stated claims upon which relief can be granted. We affirm as to Plaintiffs
3–46, but we reverse as to Plaintiffs 1 and 2. |
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