San Francisco transit workers awarded $1.3m each after Covid-19 vaccine dismissal

BART employees claim wrongful termination over COVID-19 vaccine refusal due to “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Six San Francisco public transport employees have been awarded more than $1 million each after being fired for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations. The employees of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) filed a discrimination lawsuit, claiming their terminations were wrongful due to their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

This week, federal jurors awarded the group a total of $7.8 million, amounting to approximately $1.3 million each. A BART official, who connects the San Francisco Peninsula with communities in the East and South bays, stated to KRON 4 that the agency had “no comment” on the ruling.

In October 2021, BART introduced a new COVID-19 vaccination policy requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated. According to the plaintiffs' attorneys from the Pacific Justice Institute, those who sought exemptions based on “sincerely held religious beliefs” were terminated. 

The lawsuit asserted, “Exclusion of religious people from the enjoyment of a right stands in violation of the First Amendment’s religion clauses and federal and state anti-discrimination in employment laws. 109 employees’ requests for religious exemption were denied.” 

The jury ruled that BART officials did not demonstrate undue hardship and that the six employees had indeed shown a genuine conflict between their faith and the vaccine. 

“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.”

The $7.8 million payout was determined based on lost wages, along with an additional $1 million for each terminated employee.