DENVER (KDVR) — The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine settled to pay over $10 million after a court deemed it unconstitutional that the school denied religious accommodations when it required vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last May, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that the school’s vaccination mandate and refusal to include a religious exemption were unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Previous coverage: US appeals court rejects CU’s vaccine mandate, cites ‘religious animus’
On Monday, the Thomas More Society, which represented the 18 plaintiffs in the case, said that the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine agreed to pay more than $10.3 million in damages, tuition and attorney fees to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs included former and current employees and students who said the university refused to accommodate deeply held religious objections to taking the vaccine.
The lawsuit stems from a vaccine mandate that CU enforced beginning in September 2021. According to court documents, the policy said a “religious exemption may be submitted based on a person’s religious belief whose teachings are opposed to all immunizations.” Before an exemption would be granted, the applicants were asked to answer why their belief prevents them from getting vaccinated, if they had other vaccines in the past and how the circumstances differed…