Medical school OKs $10M religious discrimination settlement

(The Center Square) – The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine will pay $10.3 million to settle claims from 18 plaintiffs who said they were unlawfully denied religious exemptions from the school’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The plaintiffs, represented anonymously by the Thomas More Society, included former and current employees and students, physicians, medical students, nurses and medical professionals, among others.

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that Chancellor Donald Elliman and other defendants violated the plaintiffs’ “clearly established” First Amendment rights, the university agreed to pay damages, tuition and attorney’s fees to all 18 individuals.

“No amount of compensation or course-correction can make up for the life-altering damage Chancellor Elliman and Anschutz inflicted on the plaintiffs and so many others throughout this case, who ...