Catholic woman fired for refusing COVID vaccine wins over $12M in Michigan court

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A Catholic woman who was fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine was awarded close to $13 million in damages after suing her former employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Lisa Domski, who worked at the insurance company for 38 years as an IT specialist, was awarded the massive payout after a federal jury in Detroit ruled in favor of her religious discrimination case. She argued that the company denied her request for an exemption from its 2021 COVID vaccine policy despite her insistence that it conflicted with her Catholic faith.

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Domski's lawyer Jon Marko told Fox News Digital that she had worked remotely during the pandemic and was on a hybrid arrangement prior to the COVID outbreak. Her remote work arrangement should have excluded her from the vaccine policy as she posed no risk to others, he said.

"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 Digital.

Attorney Jon Marko and his client Lisa Domski outside the Detroit courthouse after she was awarded $12 million in damages. (Provided to Fox News Digital by Jon Marko)

After the policy was implemented, Domski submitted a written statement to her employer detailing her religious beliefs and attached the contact information of her priest and parish, but the insurer never followed up, Marko alleged.

Instead, the company allegedly denied her accommodation request and threatened to terminate her if she didn't comply with the vaccine mandate, he said. Domski refused and was subsequently fired.

"They made up their minds that they were going to discriminate against people who had sincerely held religious beliefs," Marko alleged. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan introduced its COVID vaccine policy in October 2021, which mandated all employees be fully vaccinated or obtain a religious or medical accomodation.

A syringe lies next to vials of COVID-19 booster vaccines at an inoculation station in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.  (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Court filings reviewed by Newsweek show the insurer questioned whether Domski was reluctant to get the vaccine over a sincere religious conflict, the outlet reported. Marko told Fox News Digital that the insurer claimed in court to be unaware of her Catholic faith at the time of her firing, despite her written statement with contact information for her spiritual advisor.

Domski was awarded $10 million in punitive damages against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, an additional $1.7 million in lost wages and $1 million in noneconomic damages.

When reached for comment, the insurer said they were "dissapointed in the verdict" while defending their vaccine policy in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

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"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 statement reads.

"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."

Domski was required to get the vaccine despite working remotely. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

The insurer said it is "reviewing its legal options and will determine its path forward in the coming days." 

The payout comes months after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee paid a woman nearly $700,000 in a settlement after she was similarly fired for refusing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

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The Tennessee federal jury found in July that Tanja Benton "proved by a preponderance of the evidence" that her decision to refuse the vaccine was based on a "sincerely held religious belief." Benton also worked on a mostly remote basis prior to the pandemic.

Marko said he is representing 170 others in separate wrongful termination cases who are taking similar action against Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan over the 2021 vaccine mandate. The trials are set to begin in the new year.

Fox News' Landon Mion contributed to this report.