6 BART employees who refused COVID-19 vaccine to receive more than $1M each

 Six former BART employees are each due a $1 million payout after accusing the agency of wrongly firing them because of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. 

On Wednesday, a jury in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California sided with the employees who refused the vaccine for religious reasons. BART has been ordered to pay the group more than $7.8 million, with the individual employees receiving between nearly $1.2 million and $1.5 million each. 

In October 2021, BART’s Board of Directors approved the mandate, stating that all employees must be vaccinated against the virus, though it allowed for some exceptions, including religious accommodations.

In a class-action lawsuit filed in October 2022, employees said BART granted the vaccine exemption but denied accommodations. Some accommodations, which fall under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, could include job restructuring, job reassignment or modifications to an employee’s work (to work from home or have regular COVID tests, for example). Employees said when they refused to receive the vaccine, they were fired. 

Between Oct. 14, 2021, and Feb. 16, 2022, approximately 179 employees submitted requests for COVID-19 religious exemptions, and 70 of them were approved, the lawsuit stated. But of the 70 employees who received an exemption, the plaintiffs said, none were given a religious accommodation. 

In a statement, the Pacific Justice Institute, the law firm representing the six former employees, said one of the employees had worked at the agency for more than 30 years and had a 10-year streak of perfect attendance. 

The agency is already facing a major financial deficit of about $300 million to $400 million per year, but state funds are expected to lessen the deficit in the 2025 fiscal year from $307 million to about $35 million. 

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/bart-employees-refused-covid-vaccine-get-payout-19861708.php