Jury Awards $687,000 to BlueCross BlueShield Scientist Fired for Refusing COVID-19 Vaccine

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The award came after the scientist sued the company.

A federal jury has awarded $687,000 to a research scientist who was fired from BlueCross BlueShield in Tennessee for refusing to comply with the companyโ€™s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Tanja Benton, who had worked 16 years at the firm when she was fired, was awarded $177,240 in back pay, $10,000 in compensation, and $500,000 in punitive damages, according to a document made public by the federal court in eastern Tennessee on June 30.

Company officials told Ms. Benton in August of 2021 that she would need to be โ€œfully vaccinatedโ€ to keep her position, according to her lawsuit. Ms. Benton refused, saying aborted fetal cell lines were involved in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines and she could not โ€œin good conscience consume the vaccine, which would not only defile her body but also anger and dishonor God.โ€

BlueCross BlueShield said her position involved โ€œregular external public-facing interactionsโ€ so she couldnโ€™t keep it. Ms. Benton said her position became fully remote in 2020 but BlueCross BlueShield said it would have involved some in-person interaction with clients.

Ms. Benton was told to pursue other positions within the company and applied for two. But she was fired on Nov. 4, 2021, and told five days later that, โ€œUnfortunately, all positions require the vax now,โ€ according to an email entered in the case.

Her lawsuit charged that BlueCross BlueShield violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says an employer may not โ€œdischarge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employmentโ€ because of that personโ€™s religion. Employers can disregard religious exemption requests if they can prove accommodating them would create undue hardship.

BlueCross BlueShield โ€œcannot prove that allowing Plaintiff to continue her employment as a Bio Statistical Research Scientist without being vaccinated for COVID-19 constitutes an undue hardship,โ€ the suit stated. The company โ€œalso cannot show that it made any good-faith efforts to accommodate plaintiffโ€™s sincerely held religious beliefs.โ€

Byย Zachary Stieber

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