Colorado company that fired employees for refusing to take COVID vaccine settles lawsuits

Denver-based Newmont Mining has settled three lawsuits filed by a dozen employees who were terminated for their refusal to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus during the coronavirus pandemic.  

The dozen employees - 10 workers from the Victor mine, a director for an international project, and its former vice president overseeing North America operations - all requested exemptions from the company's vaccination mandate during 2021. 

Newmont refused to grant the exemptions. After several meetings with the employees, the company ultimately fired all of them.

Dan Janney was one of the first to be dismissed. He worked out of Newmont's Denver headquarters, although he was a resident of Utah, according to case documents.. He was was terminated August 4, 2021.  

Tavis Rogers worked out of Newmont's Denver headquarters and was the director of a water treatment plant project in Peru. He was terminated January 31, 2022.  

The high potential of exposure to the COVID-19 virus due to extensive travel may have been a concern for the company. There was not a similar level of risk through travel for the 10 employees at the Victor gold mine. The 10 lived in the area of the mine and were employed between two and 27 years there. 

A Newmont manager issued a vaccine mandate for the Victor mine employees on Oct. 19, 2021, and gave the employees until Jan. 10, 2022, to get their first shot. The 10 refused, were suspended, then fired or resigned Jan. 31, according to case documents.

The company's deadline paralleled the guidance set by the federal government at the time. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) in November 2021. The ETS required employers of more than 100 or more employees to implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. It suggested employees receive vaccinations or undergo weekly testing and wear face coverings. 

The ETS was challenged legally and blocked by the Supreme Court in January 2022. No federal vaccine mandate has been in effect since.

All 12 employees cited religion as the basis for their refusal to be vaccinated. Janney, in his lawsuit, identified as a Catholic. The 10 miners described themselves as Christians. 

Rogers, according to the lawsuit documents, notified the company immediately of his conflict with the order.

"I am a Christian. Complying with this mandate would definitely burden my religious exercise because in my faith, my body does not belong to me," Rogers answered to the company's questionnaire. "I do not make the choices for my body; my Heavenly Father made those choices for me through His Word. ... If you are mandating to me what to place into His Temple, then you are burdening my religious freedom by taking the choice of what goes into my body away from God."

Rogers, according to the lawsuit, asked that he be allowed to continue working remotely instead of getting a vaccination.

The three lawsuits were filed in 2023 several months after Newmont rescinded its mandate requiring employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine, according to all three lawsuits. 

Last year, as the cases proceeded through the federal courts, a Newmont spokesperson addressed one of them in a statement to CBS Colorado:

"We will not comment on the specifics of Mr. Janney's lawsuit, other than to state that Newmont fully complied with the law with respect to its COVID-19 vaccine requirement. During the pandemic, which killed millions of people across the globe, Newmont's vaccine requirement was vital to protecting the health and safety of our workforce and the communities in which we operate. Newmont intends to vigorously defend itself in court in response to Mr. Janney's lawsuit."

Rogers and the Victor mine employees settled their lawsuits with Newmont in January of this year. Janney settled his litigation with the company in March. 

None of the details of the settlements are being publicly released, according to Denver attorney Steven Murray, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in all three cases.

Newmont Mining did not respond to a recent request for a reaction to the settlements. 

Newmont Mining Corporation claims to be the world's leading gold company as well as a producer of copper, silver, zinc and lead. The company sold the Victor & Cripple Creek operation in March for $275 million.