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 2024 that C

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