The following information is from Children’s Health Defense.

A federal court awarded $90,000 each to two former St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) employees who sued the district after their requests for religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate were denied, St. Louis Today reported.

The employees were among 43 plaintiffs who sued in June 2022, alleging that SLPS violated their First Amendment rights and the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment, as well as federal and state civil rights laws.

SLPS has already settled with six other employees. Four received $25,000 each in July 2024, while two reached undisclosed settlements last month. According to St. Louis Today, 35 additional employees are still in mediation talks with SLPS. If negotiations fail, a jury trial will follow.

SLPS announced its vaccine mandate in August 2021, requiring employees to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Although the district initially denied all religious exemption requests—estimated at 150 to 200 applications—it later reversed course in 2022 and reinstated most affected employees. However, some who had already been terminated sued for damages.

A US District Court judge ruled that SLPS’s policy unconstitutionally forced employees to choose between their religious beliefs and their jobs.

“The District’s alleged policy put Plaintiffs to a choice: compromise their convictions or lose their livelihoods. Restrictions impermissibly infringing on constitutional rights, like the right to freely exercise one’s religion, spread across the country like a virus.”
— US Chief District Judge Stephen R. Clark

The court also criticized SLPS’s justification for the mandate, noting that while the district cited staffing shortages as a reason for requiring the vaccine, it created the very shortage it complained about by firing unvaccinated employees.

The ruling is part of a broader legal trend in which courts are increasingly siding with employees who were wrongfully terminated due to vaccine mandates.

• In November 2024, a Michigan jury awarded $12.7 million to a woman fired by Blue Cross Blue Shield for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
• In August 2024, a Philadelphia assistant district attorney won her religious exemption case.
• In June 2024, a Tennessee jury awarded a scientist $687,000 in a wrongful termination lawsuit over vaccine refusal.
• Federal appellate courts ruled in favor of mandate plaintiffs at least 10 times in 2024.

The legal battle over vaccine mandates continues to play out across the country, with courts increasingly ruling in favor of employees who were denied religious exemptions. As similar lawsuits move forward, the outcomes could set further legal precedents for how vaccine mandates are enforced in workplaces.

For more information, read the full article here.