Unvaccinated woman awarded nearly $13 million over termination
A Michigan woman who was terminated in 2022 for refusing the COVID-19 shots was awarded $12.7 million in damages.
Lisa Domski had been working as an IT specialist at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) for almost 40 years when the experimental mRNA vaccine was introduced. In October 2021, BCBSM notified its employees they had until December 8th to receive the injections or face termination, though it offered staff the option to apply for religious exemptions.
When Domski did, however, she was denied. She provided BCBSM with the name and number of her priest as well as a written statement explaining why taking the injections would conflict with her Catholic beliefs. On top of that, Domski was working from home and therefore posed no perceived risk to other employees.
BCBSM executives denied Domski’s request and threatened her with termination if she refused the shots. Domski stood her ground and was placed on an unpaid leave of absence that lasted nearly a month. On January 5, 2022, she was terminated after 38 years. BCBSM fired approximately 250 employees who had asked for religious exemptions.
Domski filed a complaint against BCBSM for religious discrimination. On November 8th, a Detroit jury awarded her $1.7 million in lost wages, $1 million in non-economic damages, and $10 million in punitive damages.
“This was a woman who was working from home in her basement office who wasn’t a threat to anybody and was completely fulfilling all of her job obligations for 38 years,” Domski’s attorney Jon Marko told Fox News. “They made up their minds that they were going to discriminate against people who had sincerely held religious beliefs,” he added.
BCBSM, for its part, said it was “disappointed” in the verdict and signaled it may appeal the decision.
“While Blue Cross respects the jury process and thanks the individual jurors for their service, we are disappointed in the verdict,” the insurer said. “Blue Cross is reviewing its legal options and will determine its path forward in the coming days.”
The verdict is the latest to set a precedent favoring compensation for workers who were terminated over their vaccination status.
California jury awards unvaccinated workers $1 million each
Two weeks earlier, a San Francisco jury awarded six rail transit workers who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine $1 million each in damages.
The former employees had been working for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system when the vaccine mandate was imposed in 2021. They declined the shots on religious grounds, but BART refused to allow them religious accommodation. All six were terminated, including one who had served the rail line for over 30 years and had a decade of perfect attendance.
In 2022, the fired workers sued BART through the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal defense organization. BART argued that the plaintiffs’ refusal to be vaccinated was for secular reasons, not religious ones. It also tried to claim that the workers’ lack of vaccination would have caused “undue hardship” to the department, which would have justified denying religious accommodation.
But a federal jury in the US District Court for the Northern District of California disagreed. On October 23rd, it ordered BART to pay $7.8 million in damages. The amount included compensation for lost wages with an additional million dollars added for each plaintiff.
Months ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee paid a woman who was terminated for being unvaccinated almost $700,000 in a settlement.
