Jury Awards Over $12 Million to Woman Fired for Refusing COVID Shot for Religious Reasons

A jury on Friday said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan discriminated against a woman who refused the COVID-19 shot for religious reasons and awarded her $12.6 million in both compensatory and punitive damages.

The insurance company denied Lisa Domski’s request for a religious exemption from its requirement of COVID-19 injection. According to her attorneys, since Domski worked from home as an information technology specialist, Blue Cross Blue Shield could have easily accommodated her request.

“Lisa is so thankful that a diverse jury of her peers saw through the company’s bogus decision to terminate her after 38 years of service,” Noah S. Hurwitz, an attorney who represented Domski, told The Epoch Times. “Clearly, the religious accommodation process was meant to stamp out religious beliefs of employees and promote COVID-19 vaccination within the company.”

The civil case was filed in U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan in August 2023.

According to the complaint, on January 5, 2022, Blue Cross Blue Shield “terminated approximately 250 employees who requested a religious accommodation” to the COVID shot requirement. The company also “touted on job recruiting websites that it required COVID-19 vaccination with ‘no exemptions.’”

Domski’s attorneys further alleged that Blue Cross Blue Shield conducted 15-minute “ambush-style interrogations” of employees requesting a religious exemption, during which they were asked:

a. Do you feel like the COVID-19 vaccines were rushed?

b. What do you do when you are in physical pain?

c. Do you take Aspirin, Sudafed, Tums, or Tylenol?

d. Do your beliefs prevent you from receiving medical treatments?

e. Do you have a primary care physician?

f. Has your doctor ever prescribed medication?

g. What would you do if your doctor prescribed medication?

h. What medication have you taken?

i. Have you always followed this religious belief?

j. When was the last time you received a vaccination?

“Employees were told that over-the-counter medications like Tylenol and Tums were developed and manufactured using stem cells,” the complaint continued. “However, the over-the-counter medications referenced by Defendant were developed decades before stem cell research was conducted.”

The jury found Blue Cross Blue Shield unlawfully discriminated against Domski, under federal law, by denying her request for exemption from the shot requirement based on a sincerely held religious belief, and under both Michigan and federal law, by firing her because of her religious beliefs.

Domski was awarded $10 million in punitive damages, plus $315,000 in back pay damages, $1.375 million in front pay damages, and $1 million in non-economic damages.

Her attorneys argued in the complaint:

Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) telling employers to “ordinarily assume that an employee’s request for religious accommodation is based on sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance,” Defendant did the opposite. Instead of respecting Plaintiff’s religious beliefs, Defendant conducted a short, arbitrary interview with her regarding whether she had taken other vaccines or over the counter medications. Defendant then ignored the EEOC’s warning that employers “should not assume that an employee is insincere simply because some of the employee’s practices deviate from the commonly followed tenets of the employee’s religion, or because the employee adheres to some common practices but not others” and terminated Plaintiff based on Defendant’s subjective standard of religiosity. All the while, Defendant did not require the customers, vendors, or independent contractors on its premises to be vaccinated.

According to The Epoch Times, Blue Cross Blue Shield said in a statement that while the company “respects the jury process and thanks the individual jurors for their service, we are disappointed in the verdict. Blue Cross is reviewing its legal options and will determine its path forward in the coming days.”

“Blue Cross Blue Shield said it did not discriminate against Domski and said her religious beliefs were not sincere,” the Times noted.