A settlement reached on Wednesday will allow Navy service members who refused the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons to have their records corrected and their careers protected.
Originally filed on behalf of dozens of Navy SEALs and Navy Special Warfare Operators, the lawsuit was later expanded to cover a class of all Navy service members who had religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“This has been a long and difficult journey, but the Navy SEALs never gave up,” said Danielle Runyan, chair of the Military Practice Group and Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute, in a statement. “We are thrilled that those members of the Navy who were guided by their conscience and steadfast in their faith will not be penalized in their Navy careers.”
First Liberty Institute and the law firm Hacker Stephens LLP won the first major victory in the nation against the military’s vaccine mandate in January of 2022. Both the Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld that injunction.
In the settlement, the Navy agreed to “re-review the personnel records of all Class members to ensure that the U.S. Navy has permanently removed records indicating administrative separation processing or proceedings, formal counseling, and non-judicial punishment actions taken against the Class member solely on the basis of non-compliance with the COVID-19 mandate and adverse information related to non-compliance with the COVID-19 mandate.”
The Navy also agreed to post a statement affirming its respect for religious service members, provide more training for commanders who review religious accommodation requests, revise a policy related to accommodation requests that were changed during the mandate and pay $1.5 million in attorneys’ fees.
“This was a hard-fought but significant victory for all members of the military and the principle of religious liberty,” added Heather Gebelin Hacker, lead counsel for the class along with Andrew Stephens and a partner at Hacker Stephens LLP.
Service members can get more information about the settlement here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.