Six California transit workers who were terminated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine due to religious reasons awarded $7.8 million by a federal jury

San Francisco, CA – On October 23, 2024, a federal jury ruled in favour of six former employees of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), awarding them over $7.8 million after their requests for religious accommodations to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied. The unanimous decision came after two days of deliberation, with each employee set to receive more than $1 million in compensation.

The employees, who have been represented by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) since 2022, argued that BART had unlawfully denied their religious accommodation requests, forcing them to choose between their faith and their jobs.

The jury found that BART failed to demonstrate an undue hardship in accommodating the employees' religious beliefs and confirmed that each of the plaintiffs had shown a genuine conflict between their faith and the vaccine mandate, which BART introduced in late 2021.

Additionally, the jury accepted the plaintiffs' economic expert’s calculations for lost wages and awarded $1 million each for emotional distress and other damages.

Brad Dacus, president of PJI, described the outcome as “seismic,” referring to the case as a "7.8 San Francisco legal earthquake." He praised the hard work of his legal team and the perseverance of the plaintiffs, emphasizing the fairness of the judicial system in this decision.

Lead trial counsel Kevin Snider echoed these sentiments, highlighting the sincerity of the employees’ convictions. “The rail employees chose to lose their livelihood rather than deny their faith. 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,” Snider said.

During the trial, jurors heard testimony from long-serving employees, including one plaintiff who had been with BART for over 30 years and had maintained a decade of perfect attendance before being terminated. Another employee had been on workers’ compensation with no scheduled return date when she was fired. BART had argued that the employees' objections to the vaccine were more secular than religious, but the jury rejected this claim.

PJI's legal team continues to represent hundreds of employees across the country who lost their jobs after being denied religious accommodations to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates. This verdict is expected to have far-reaching implications for similar cases pending nationwide.