Mercyhealth Hospital and Physician Clinic Crystal Lake is at 875 S. Route 31. Mercyhealth has agreed to pay $1 million to settle discrimination claims by employees over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Michelle Meyer/Shaw Media

Mercyhealth health care system has agreed to pay more than $1 million to employees and offered to reinstate employees who were terminated for refusing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine policy for religious reasons.

The settlement comes after an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to an EEOC news release posted Wednesday . The investigation found reasonable cause to believe Mercyhealth discriminated against employees based on religion and denying religious accommodation by either firing employees or deducting their wages.

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