The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has reached a settlement agreement with the University of Missouri Hospital at Columbia over the firing of Miki Cain, a nurse who lost her job because she refused to remove a cross-shaped lapel pin from her uniform.
The ACLU represented Cain in a challenge to the Hospital's actions on grounds of freedom of expression and religion. The Hospital claimed that Cain violated the dress code when she expressed her Christian beliefs by wearing the pin.
Miki Cain worked at the University Hospital from April 8, 1996 to January 5, 1997 as a Senior LPN. She wore a cross around her neck until she learned that doing so violated safety standards. She then purchased a 1/2 by 1/4 inch pin for her uniform lapel.
Under the hospital dress code, employees were allowed to wear professional lapel pins, as well as seasonal holiday pins. No other pins were permitted.
In the settlement letter, Hospital Director Patsy J. Hart wrote, "The decision to terminate your employment was unfortunate. However, management believed your insistence upon wearing a lapel pin that was not a nursing pin constituted a violation of the applicable dress code. Management does not believe that your wearing of that pin, an act you have described as an expression of your religious beliefs, was itself a disruption in the workplace or that it jeopardized the well being or safety of any patient or employee."
As part of the agreement, the Hospital offered Cain her job back, with permission to wear the pin. In addition to an invitation back to work, the Hospital paid Cain $18,500 to settle the claim.