The Award handed down by the jury in this case to the fired BART workers is historic. I hope this will lead the way for all unvaccinated workers throughout America to get their jobs back.
I hope that New York City will be one of them. The challenge is clear. For religious and medical exemption accommodations, masking, testing, and temporary remote assignments were the answer. Still, NYC Mayor Eric Adams did not want to hear, nor is he listening today to any opposition to his mass layoff of municipal workers. This is not how to run any city, state, country, or world.
COOPER AMENDED COMPLAINT (without Exhibits)
Here is the VERDICT and JUDGMENT:
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
BART workers fired due to COVID vaccine mandate to get over $1M each, federal jury decides
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A federal jury has sided with fired BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) workers who sued the agency claiming they lost their jobs over a COVID vaccine mandate.
There are six of them total in the lawsuit and each will receive more than $1 million.
The employees claimed religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate but say they were not accommodated by the transit agency, and subsequently lost their job.
BART did initially grant vaccine exemptions, but the plaintiffs argued they weren’t accommodated. An accommodation could have meant that they were able to work from home or get COVID tested regularly for COVID. They argued none of that happened and they lost their job.
In total, BART must now pay a combined $7.8 million to all six former employees.
BART is a transit agency that is already between $350 and $400 million in the red, but BART’s board of directors did vote eight to one for the vaccine mandate in 2021.
BART has not commented on Wednesday’s decision.
San Francisco BART to Pay $7 Million in Worker Vaccine Case
Federal jury deliberates over BART workers fired due to COVID vaccine mandate
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — It was a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that sparked outrage among hundreds of BART workers.
Now, a federal jury will decide if BART has to pay up to six former employees who claimed religious exemptions but say they were not accommodated by the transit agency, and subsequently lost their job.
In 2021 BART workers reached out to ABC7 News Reporter J.R. Stone about the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that went into effect. Hundreds of employees felt like their vaccine exemption requests weren’t taken seriously by BART. Those that Stone talked with in 2021 have been involved in settlements, and now some other workers are seeing their case before a jury.
“I’m not giving in and there’s a number of us that have the same opinion. We’re not giving in, we’re holding ground, holding firm on what our beliefs are,” Albert Roth said in 2021.
There are two phases to this federal trial and the first finished up this past Friday.
The verdict form given to jurors asked, “Has BART proven that the plaintiff could not be reasonably accommodated without undue hardship?”
The jury came back unanimously saying that “NO not proven by BART.” In all six cases they sided with the former employees.
Now the jury will decide if each of the six individuals did in fact have a religious conflict with the vaccine mandate.
Some that ABC7 News spoke with believe that this BART case is similar to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate case in Tennessee. In that trial the jury awarded more than $600,000 to the plaintiff who did not get the vaccine despite a mandate to do so.
BART is a transit agency that is already between $350 and $400 million in the red, but BART’s board of directors did vote eight to one for the vaccine mandate in 2021. The jury is now deliberating and could come back Wednesday with a verdict.
COVID vaccine refusal 10th highest reason for job cuts in 2021, report says
‘Not afraid to be homeless’: Unvaccinated BART employees react after mandate exemptions denied
BART tells us that, as of right now, about 600 employees are unvaccinated.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — On the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, a number of unvaccinated BART employees learned their requests for a religious exemption to the BART COVID-19 vaccine mandate was denied.
The denial email clarifies that if the employee doesn’t get vaccinated, retire, or resign, BART will seek their termination.
“It just kicked me in the stomach this morning when I came in and read that,” said 19-year BART employee Albert Roth. Roth is unvaccinated and works as a automatic fare collection worker. He’s also an ordained minister who had requested a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. He received an email Wednesday morning, saying, “After careful review and consideration of the information provided, your request is denied.”
“Yeah J.R. I’m not giving in and there’s a number of us that have the same opinion. We’re not giving in, we’re holding ground, holding firm on what our beliefs are,” said Roth.
The transit agency’s vaccine mandate goes into effect on Dec. 13. BART tells us as of right now, about 600 employees are unvaccinated. Board director Rebecca Saltzman said this last month, “We need to protect the health and safety of BART workers and BART riders.”
In a statement, BART says, “We are working with our labor partners to deliver safe and reliable service now and in the future.”
Roth believes a loss of hundreds of workers could impact safety, and so does community service officer and 14-year BART employee Rhiannon Doyle. Doyle received her religious exemption denial Wednesday, too.
“In my department alone I believe there is 60 of us, I’d say a good handful are civilians maybe five or 10, but the rest are officers. That is really going to impact the response time for emergencies,” said Doyle.
Doyle says she’s not an anti-vaxxer, but had coronavirus in September and believes taking the vaccine would be an attempt to fix something that’s not broken.
Doyle and Roth are against being told what to put in their body and say they’re ready to walk if need be and daily testing isn’t allowed.
“I’ve been homeless before and this is what I told the BART board, ya know. I’m not afraid to be homeless again, it is what it is, but now they’re tapping into people’s rights and I’m not going to stand for that, not on my watch,” says Doyle.
BART says riders are depending on a healthy workforce. They plan to hold additional vaccine clinics for unvaccinated employees next week.