The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine agreed to pay $10.3 million to settle a First Amendment lawsuit brought by 18 former employees who lost their jobs for refusing to take a required COVID-19 vaccine.

The plaintiffs had religious objections to the vaccine, but the university determined their objections weren’t legitimate and fired them, according to the Thomas More Society , which represented the former CU employees and announced the settlement Monday .

CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora considered whether employees’ religions had an established doctrine prohibiting them from receiving any vaccines; if not, the school asked whether the employee had received other shots, and what made this one different.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May

See Full Page