Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in talks to settle lawsuits over fired workers and COVID-19 vaccine
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is in talks to possibly settle more than 100 lawsuits by employees who were fired after declining to get a COVID-19 vaccination, court records show.
The disclosure comes three months after a jury awarded more than $12 million to a woman who had worked at the company for more than 30 years.
Much of that award will likely be reduced because of a cap on punitive damages. But in a court filing, lawyers for Blue Cross and Lisa Domski asked a federal judge to put her case on hold Thursday while they work with a mediator to try to reach a "global resolution" over similar lawsuits.
Blue Cross and Noah Hurwitz, the attorney representing Domski and many other former employees, declined to comment further Friday.
Domski, an IT specialist, said she was a victim of religious discrimination. Blue Cross in 2021 did not grant an exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine policy, despite her insistence that the vaccine clashed with her Catholic beliefs.
Her attorney, John Marko says, Domski, who worked for the insurer for nearly 38 years, provided a written statement explaining her beliefs and the name and contact information of her priest.
Marko says Blue Cross told Domski that she could use her written statement. He says the company instead denied Domski's accommodation and told her she would be fired if she didn't get the vaccine. Domaski refused and was terminated, Marko said.
Blue Cross denied any discrimination and said it believed Domski lacked a sincere religious belief.
A jury in November awarded Domski about $1.7 million in lost pay, $1 million in noneconomic damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson heard arguments in January about reducing the amount. But he didn't make an immediate decision. Domski's lawyers acknowledged that punitive damages cannot exceed $300,000.
