December 18, 2024
Early challenges to workplace COVID-19 vaccine mandates were largely unsuccessful, but pro-plaintiff rulings and verdicts from 2024 showed that employers should give workers broad deference, particularly when it comes to religious objections to vaccines. Here, Law360 looks back at five noteworthy developments that came down this year in vaccination cases.
October 23, 2024
A California federal jury on Wednesday awarded combined damages of more than $7.8 million to six former Bay Area Rapid Transit District employees after finding the rail agency committed religious discrimination by refusing to exempt them from a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
October 18, 2024
A California federal jury on Friday ruled that the Bay Area Rapid Transit District didn't prove it tried to accommodate six unvaccinated employees the agency fired during the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the trial to a second phase over whether the workers had a "sincerely held" religious belief against being vaccinated.
October 16, 2024
Counsel for six fired San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District workers delivered opening statements Wednesday in a new trial over allegations BART discriminated against employees who sought religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccination mandate, calling the agency's review of their requests a "sham process."
July 17, 2024
A California federal jury considering claims that the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District discriminated against employees who sought religious exemptions from the train agency's COVID-19 mandate rendered a partial verdict Wednesday but hung on a key question, leaving the case unresolved and setting the stage for another trial.
July 09, 2024
A former San Francisco Bay Area train system police department member who claims the transit agency religiously discriminated with its COVID-19 vaccination mandate testified tearfully on Tuesday that he felt guilt and anxiety after losing his job, saying his family almost had to sell their home.