Six former public transit employees from San Fransisco who were fired for refusing to get a COVID shot have been awarded over $1 million each following a historic court ruling.
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers, who had requested religious exemptions to the COVID vaccine mandate, were among reported “hundreds” of BART employees who “felt like their vaccine exemption requests weren’t taken seriously,” according to ABC7 News.
Lifesitenews.com reports: A total of “109 employees’ requests for religious exemption were denied,” the lawsuit said, according to the New York Post. The suit stated that the dismissal of BART employees violates the First Amendment, as well as “federal and state anti-discrimination in employment laws.”
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According to local news reports, BART technically granted “exemptions” to the COVID shot mandate but did not provide accommodations, essentially rendering the exemptions meaningless. The plaintiffs pointed out that an accommodation would have allowed them to work from home or regularly test for COVID before coming into work. Instead, they simply lost their jobs.
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ABC7 reporter J.R. Stone spoke to BART employees in 2021 who had been involved in other settlements and found them resolute in fighting what they criticized as unjust decisions.
“I’ve been homeless before and this is what I told the BART board, ya know. I’m not afraid to be homeless again, it is what it is, but now they’re tapping into people’s rights and I’m not going to stand for that, not on my watch,” Rhiannon Doyle told Stone in 2021.
“I’m not giving in, and there’s a number of us that have the same opinion. We’re not giving in, we’re holding ground, holding firm on what our beliefs are,” said Albert Roth.
In the first phase of this federal trial, jurors were asked if BART has “proven that the plaintiff could not be reasonably accommodated without undue hardship.”
The jury unanimously concluded that this was “not proven by BART” with regard to all six former employees. On Wednesday, they ruled that the COVID shot presented a genuine conflict to their religious faith.
BART has been directed by a federal judge to pay a total of $7.8 million, calculated from lost wages, to all six former employees.
“The rail employees chose to lose their livelihood rather than deny their faith,” said lead trial attorney Kevin Snyder.
“That in itself shows the sincerity and depth of their convictions. After nearly three years of struggle, these essential workers feel they were heard and understood by the jury and are overjoyed and relieved by the verdict.”
