A Catholic woman who was fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine was awarded nearly $13 million by a Michigan court Friday, according to court documents shared by her legal team.
Jon Marko represented Lisa Domski in a complaint against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Domski argued she was religiously discriminated against by BCBSM after she was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
A Michigan district court ruled Domski’s firing constituted religious discrimination because it denied her request for an accommodation after she claimed the vaccine conflicted with her faith. It ordered BCBSM to pay $10 million in punitive damages.
Domski will receive an additional $315,000 in back pay damages, $1,375,000 in front pay damages and $1 million in non-economic damages, for a total of nearly $13 million. Her lawyers celebrated the ruling via Instagram as a major win against a healthcare giant.
“This case was one of the biggest honors of my career, that I had the privilege of working with @jonmarko on because it involved the biggest, most important thing to me in life, religious freedom!” the post reads. “[Marko] fought relentlessly, and I’m so proud to have been a part of the team to make a difference, and stand up to a $32.8 billion company!”
BCBSM said Tuesday that while it “respects the jury process,” it is disappointed by the verdict and is reviewing additional legal options.
“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 company said in a statement. “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,” it added.
The ruling follows a Republican-led report by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee last month finding the Department of Health and Human Services ran a “deeply flawed” COVID-19 messaging campaign.
Have a news tip? Contact Jackson Walker at jacwalker@sbgtv.com or at x.com/jlwalker.