A jury awarded more than $12 million Friday to a woman who lost her job at a Michigan insurance company after declining to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
Much of the award — $10 million — is for punitive damages against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, according to the verdict form.
Lisa Domski, who worked at Blue Cross for more than 30 years, said she was a victim of religious discrimination. The company in 2021 did not grant an exemption from its vaccine policy, despite her insistence that it clashed with her Catholic beliefs.
Domski’s attorney, Jon Marko, said she worked 100% remotely as an IT specialist during the pandemic; 75% before COVID-19 hit in 2020.
Even without the vaccine, “she wasn’t a danger to anybody,” Marko said in an interview after the trial.
Besides punitive damages, the jury in Detroit federal court awarded Domski about $1.7 million in lost pay and $1 million in noneconomic damages.
