EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – One MSU employee and two former employees have sued Michigan State University and recently presented their case to Michigan’s 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the university’s July 2021 vaccine mandate.

Jeanna Norris, Kraig Ehm and D’Ann Rohrer are the Plaintiffs in the case and argue that the mandate violates their constitutional right to bodily autonomy and is unlawful. They were all employees of MSU in 2021. Norris had asked for an exemption of natural immunity after already being infected with COVID-19. The university had denied that request. She then asked for and received a religious exemption in November of 2021. After not getting the vaccine, Rohrer was fired in November of 2021 and Ehm placed on unpaid leave. Both Rohrer and Ehm are also claiming natural immunity.

MORE NEWS: Former High School Soccer Ref Faces Assault Charges After Alleged Scuffle with Teen Player

The three women are represented by the National Civil Liberties Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based group who says the women violates their right to informed consent and their employment was conditioned on medical treatment that was unnecessary.

In September, the U.S. District Court for the Western District had ruled against them and tossed out the lawsuit. District Judge Paul Maloney in Kalamazoo said that the employees failed to prove that MSU was irrational by not providing an exemption to the vaccination requirement for employees with natural immunity from the virus. He also said that MSU was relying on guidance from the CDC.

MSU’s mandate is still in place and continues into the 2022-23 school year even though the CDC has admitted that the vaccines do not prevent transmission and that natural immunity should be taken into consideration. The mandate is in place for all students, faculty and staff if they work or live on campus. Discipline, including termination for the staff, will continue to be a consequence of not taking the vaccine without a medical or religious exemption.

According to the Lansing State Journal, as of May 2022, MSU had “fired 28 permanent employees for failing to get a COVID-19 vaccine.”