Catholic Woman Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine Awarded $12M by Michigan Court
A Catholic woman who was fired after requesting a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine was awarded more than $12 million after suing her employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Lisa Domski sued the company contending it denied her request for an exemption from its 2021 COVID-19 vaccine policy. She said that particular vaccine clashed with her Catholic beliefs.
Jon Marko, Domski's attorney, noted that she worked as an IT Specialist for the company for 38 years and her position was 100% remote during the pandemic and 75% remote before 2020.
"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," Marko told Fox News.
In October 2021, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan implemented a mandate requiring employees to be fully vaccinated or obtain a religious or medical accommodation.
Domski submitted a request seeking an accommodation because of the "use of fetal cells taken from an aborted fetus when developing the vaccine." She was allegedly denied and told if she did not comply she would be terminated.
Domski "refused to give up her faith" and was fired.
"They made up their minds that they were going to discriminate against people who had sincerely held religious beliefs," Marko told Fox.
Domski filed a lawsuit against the company claiming she was a victim of religious discrimination – a claim Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan denies, saying they were not aware of her Catholic faith when she made her accommodation request, court filings reveal.
But a Michigan district court ruled that Domski's firing constituted religious discrimination. A jury ordered Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to pay her $10 million in punitive damages, plus $315,000 in back pay damages, $1,375,000 in front pay damages, and $1 million in non-economic damages, for a total of nearly $13 million."Our forefathers fought and died for the freedom for each American to practice his or her religion. Neither the government nor a corporation has a right to force an individual to choose between his or her career and conscience," Marko said in a statement posted to Instagram. "Lisa refused to renounce her faith and beliefs and was wrongfully terminated from the only job she had ever known. The jury's verdict today tells BCBSM that religious discrimination has no place in America and affirms each person's right to religious freedom."
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan said in a statement that it was "disappointed in the verdict" and it is "reviewing its legal options."
"Throughout the pandemic, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, together with its employees, worked to promote the health and safety of our colleagues, stakeholders, and communities," the company said in a statement. "As part of that shared work, in October 2021, Blue Cross, and its subsidiaries, enacted a vaccine policy requiring all of its employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or obtain a religious or medical accommodation."
"In implementing the vaccine policy, Blue Cross designed an accommodation process that complied with state and federal law and respected the sincerely held religious beliefs of its employees. While Blue Cross respects the jury process and thanks the individual jurors for their service, we are disappointed in the verdict," it added.
The ruling comes months after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee paid a woman $700,000 in a settlement after firing her for refusing the vaccine based on a "sincerely held religious belief," Fox reports.
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