Those against COVID-19 vaccines will get paid more than 1 million

Vaccination refusers win lawsuit and receive $1.3 million each

Six San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees were fired for refusing to vaccinate with the COVID-19 vaccine because of their religious beliefs. However, they recently won a lawsuit and were awarded 1.3 million dollars each.

The latter have always maintained that they were unfairly punished because they refused to be vaccinated because of their 'sincerely held religious beliefs'. "KRON 4, the Bay Area Rapid Transit, the public transport system connecting the East Bay and South Bay communities to the San Francisco peninsula, was accused of wrongfully firing workers for refusing the vaccine^[1]. 

Strict vaccination policy announced as early as October 2021

In response to the jury's decision, Bay Area Rapid Transit said it had "no comment". 

It noted that the agency had implemented a vaccination requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine in October 2021 during the pandemic. According to the lawsuit filed by the Pacific Justice Institute, anyone who requested exemptions from that requirement was fired.

"Of the 179 employees with religious objections, none received benefits," the lawsuit states. It adds that the exclusion of religious people from exercising their right violates the First Amendment's religion clause and federal and state anti-discrimination laws on employment. Nevertheless, 109 employees' requests for religious exemptions were denied.

"Railroad workers chose to forfeit their livelihood rather than renounce their faith," said lead trial attorney Kevin Snyder.

Finally, after nearly three years of struggle, the workers finally feel that the jury has heard them: a federal jury this week awarded a total of $7.8 million to the victim group. The victims were awarded $7.8 million or $1.3 million each. The jury ruled that BART had rejected their religious exemptions without sufficient justification, concluding that the workers had been unlawfully fired because of their beliefs.

According to KRON 4, the jury found that Bay Area Rapid Transit officials failed to provide evidence of how retaining the six employees who refused the COVID-19 vaccine caused undue hardship to the agency. Meanwhile, the jury found that the six fired employees could show that the vaccine policy directly conflicted with their religious beliefs^[2].

Following the jury's verdict last week, Pacific Justice Institute President Brad Dacus said:

"These verdicts are seismic - a 7.8 magnitude San Francisco legal earthquake. And the amazing result reflects the hard work of our team, the tenacity of these clients, and the fairness of our judicial system."

Cases highlight the consequences for employers of challenging vaccine mandate policies

There have been many more cases around the world where workers dismissed for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations on religious grounds have been awarded compensation. However, the opposite is also true.

One of them is the case of 12 June 2024, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld that, under certain circumstances, an employer may engage in religious discrimination by enforcing a vaccination obligation against an employee and job applicant who refused to be vaccinated for religious reasons^[3]. 

Najean Lucky applied for a managerial position with a home medical services provider. During the interview, the employer asked her if she had been vaccinated against COVID-19. Lucky replied that it was not because of her religious beliefs. The employer immediately terminated the interview. As a result, Lucky filed a lawsuit. However, as it turned out, if an employer's policy does not provide for a religious exemption, the employer can justify why a religious exemption would significantly increase the costs associated with running a particular business.

In contrast, another case involved an individual awarded $10 million. 

In Illinois, NorthShore University Health System paid out $10 million to health care workers who were denied religious exemptions, with each receiving between $25,000 and $45,000.

Indeed, such cases highlight the legal and financial consequences that employers can face when vaccine mandate policies are challenged, especially when employees claim that religious or personal rights have been trampled underfoot.

In Lithuania, compulsory vaccination policies have been applied exclusively to workers in the health care, social services and education sectors who have had close contact with vulnerable groups. While all workers in these fields were offered vaccination, workers who were medically unavailable or had recently contracted a disease were able to obtain exemptions and continue working.

If workers refused to be vaccinated and the nature of their work did not allow them to telework or be relocated, they were often suspended from work without pay. At the end of the three-month suspension period, employers could terminate the employment contract without notice or severance pay. This is known to have caused much debate and controversy, both amongst trade unions and politicians, who saw this practice as excessive pressure on workers and even as a "capitulation" in the communication about vaccination.