Religious discrimination lawsuit settlements in recent years have ranged from roughly $25,000 for a single denied accommodation to more than $21 million for a class of harassed employees, with the biggest numbers coming from COVID-19 vaccine mandate disputes and from workplace harassment class actions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recovered over $48 million for religious workers in fiscal year 2025, a 146% jump over the prior year, and has brought in more than $63 million through litigation and pre-litigation deals since January 2025 alone.1EEOC. EEOC Delivers Administration Priorities and President Trump’s Executive Orders
What Drives the Dollar Amount
Under Title VII, compensatory and punitive damages for intentional religious discrimination are capped by employer size, maxing out at $300,000 for companies with more than 500 employees.2CalChamber. Compensatory and Punitive Damages Under Title VII Back pay, front pay, and attorney’s fees are not capped. That split is why a jury can return a verdict in the tens of millions while the final judgment, after post-trial review, lands much lower on the punitive piece but preserves the economic losses in full.
Class-wide resolutions produce the largest totals because they aggregate many workers’ claims into one settlement. Individual accommodation cases involving religious headwear, grooming, or scheduling have historically clustered between $25,000 and $158,000, depending on whether the worker was fired or merely passed over, how long they were out of work, and how egregious the employer’s conduct was.3EEOC. Fact Sheet on Recent EEOC Religious Discrimination Litigation
The Biggest Recent Settlements and Verdicts
Columbia University — $21 Million
In July 2025, Columbia University agreed to a $21 million class claims fund for Jewish faculty, staff, and student employees subjected to harassment at the university between October 7, 2023, and July 23, 2025. The EEOC called it the largest public EEOC settlement in nearly 20 years and the most significant religious discrimination resolution in the agency’s 60-year history. A claims administrator distributes notices, and the EEOC retains sole discretion over eligibility and individual award amounts. Columbia also agreed to a separate $200 million fine and compliance monitoring as part of a broader multi-agency resolution.4EEOC. Largest EEOC Public Settlement in Almost 20 Years: Columbia University Agrees to Pay $21 Million
Global Technology Company — $15 Million
In March 2026, an unnamed global technology company agreed to pay $15 million through the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office to a class of employees whose religious and disability-based COVID-19 vaccine exemption requests had been denied. The three-year conciliation agreement includes no admission of liability but requires revised equal employment policies, annual training on religion and disability discrimination, and three years of accommodation reporting to the EEOC.5EEOC. EEOC Reaches $15 Million Conciliation Agreement to Resolve Discrimination Claims Related to COVID-19 Vaccinations
Lisa Domski v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — $12.69 Million Jury Verdict
A federal jury in Michigan awarded Lisa Domski, a Catholic IT specialist with more than 30 years at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, over $12.69 million in November 2024 after the company denied her religious exemption to its vaccine mandate and fired her. The breakdown: $10 million in punitive damages, $1.375 million in front pay, $1 million in noneconomic damages, and $315,000 in back pay.6HR Dive. Jury Awards Catholic Woman $12M in Vaccine Religious Discrimination Lawsuit The punitive portion sits well above the Title VII cap and would typically be reduced on post-trial review; the economic losses and front pay would survive untouched.
University of Colorado Anschutz — $10.3 Million
The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine settled for more than $10.3 million in December 2025 with 18 employees and students, including a Catholic doctor and a Buddhist medical student. A Tenth Circuit panel had ruled in 2024 that the school’s exemption policy was “motivated by religious animus” because it tested whether applicants’ beliefs were “doctrinally coherent or legitimate.” The university agreed to treat religious exemption requests the same as medical ones and to stop inquiring into the legitimacy of employees’ beliefs.7Colorado Sun. CU Anschutz COVID Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit
UPS — $4.9 Million
UPS entered a five-year consent decree in December 2018 to settle an EEOC class suit filed in 2015. The company’s grooming policy required male customer-facing and supervisory employees to shave beards and keep hair above collar length, conflicting with the religious practices of Muslim, Sikh, and Rastafarian workers. The EEOC alleged UPS had either refused to hire these workers or segregated them into back-of-facility roles since at least 2005.8EEOC. EEOC v. United Parcel Service, Inc. Settlement UPS paid $4.9 million without admitting wrongdoing and agreed to amend its accommodation process, train managers nationally, and publicize the availability of religious accommodations.9Atlanta Journal-Constitution. UPS Settles EEOC Religious Discrimination Lawsuit for $4.9 Million
UT-Battelle (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) — $2.8 Million
UT-Battelle, which operates the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, agreed in September 2025 to pay more than $2.8 million to a class of employees denied religious accommodations from its vaccine policy. The two-year conciliation agreement includes back pay, compensatory damages, policy recirculation, and HR training.10EEOC. UT-Battelle to Pay Over $2.8 Million to Settle EEOC COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Related Religious Accommodation Claims Employees who had received exemptions were initially placed on indefinite unpaid leave before a federal judge intervened.11WVLT. UT-Battelle to Pay Over $2.8 Million in COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Settlement
Mercyhealth — $1 Million Plus Reinstatement
Mercyhealth agreed in August 2025 to pay more than $1 million to a class of workers who were either fired or hit with a $60-per-month wage deduction for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds between September 2021 and May 2022. The three-year agreement includes an offer of reinstatement for terminated employees, HR training, and periodic EEOC reporting on any future system-wide vaccination program.12EEOC. Mercyhealth to Pay Over $1 Million to Settle EEOC COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Related Religious Accommodation Claims
The Venetian Resort Las Vegas — $850,000
The Venetian Resort agreed in July 2025 to an $850,000 settlement under a three-year consent decree to resolve allegations that it denied accommodations to employees of multiple faiths, including Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Buddhists. Requests had involved Sabbath days off and permission to wear beards. The decree requires an independent third-party monitor, Title VII training for all employees and managers, and 36 months of compliance tracking.13EEOC. Venetian Resort Las Vegas Settles Religious Discrimination and Retaliation Lawsuit
Sabbath Scheduling Settlements
Scheduling disputes continue to produce a steady stream of smaller resolutions. Marriott Vacations Worldwide and Marriott Ownership Resorts paid $175,000 in December 2025 to a Seventh-Day Adventist sales executive whose Saturday accommodation had been revoked after a management change.14EEOC. Marriott Companies Pay $175,000 in EEOC Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Mavis Tire settled a similar claim for over $300,000 in December 2025.1EEOC. EEOC Delivers Administration Priorities and President Trump’s Executive Orders Rex Healthcare in Raleigh paid $150,000 in March 2026 for firing a remote employee who had declined the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, despite having granted the same employee flu-vaccine exemptions in 2019 and 2020.15EEOC. Rex Healthcare to Pay $150,000 in EEOC COVID-19 Vaccine Religious Accommodation Suit P.F. Chang’s paid $80,000 in September 2025 after refusing to hire an Alabama applicant who requested Sundays off for worship.16HR Dive. P.F. Chang’s Applicant Requested Sundays Off
Why Vaccine Mandate Cases Pay So Much
Vaccine mandate disputes have produced more religious discrimination settlements by dollar volume than any other category in recent years. The EEOC has recovered over $55 million for workers affected by vaccine mandates as of mid-2025.17EEOC. 200 Days of EEOC Action to Protect Religious Freedom at Work Two things explain the pattern.
First, mandates affected large groups of workers at once, which produces class-sized damages. Second, the legal standard employers must meet to refuse a religious accommodation changed in the middle of the mandate period. On June 29, 2023, a unanimous Supreme Court decided Groff v. DeJoy and held that denying a religious accommodation requires proof that granting it would cause “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of [the employer’s] particular business.”18Supreme Court of the United States. Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174 That replaced a 46-year-old “de minimis” standard under which almost any cost justified a denial.
Under Groff, employers must consider multiple accommodation options before concluding none is feasible. Coworker complaints only count if they demonstrably harm business operations, and bias toward the employee’s religion is never a legitimate hardship.19EEOC. Religious Discrimination Blanket denials and formulaic “sincerity” interviews, the kind of conduct juries saw in the Domski case and the Tenth Circuit saw in the Anschutz case, now carry much greater exposure.
What Employers Must Do Beyond Writing a Check
Nearly every EEOC religious discrimination settlement includes a consent decree running two to five years that requires structural changes. The recurring elements:3EEOC. Fact Sheet on Recent EEOC Religious Discrimination Litigation
- New anti-discrimination and accommodation policies, often with a formal internal appeals process for denied requests.
- Annual or periodic training for managers, HR, and sometimes the full workforce on Title VII and the undue hardship standard.
- Compliance reports to the EEOC on accommodation requests and complaints, sometimes supervised by an independent third-party monitor.
- Explicit anti-retaliation provisions and mandatory workplace postings advising employees of their rights.
Pending Cases and Where This Is Headed
Several significant cases remain unresolved. The EEOC sued Mayo Clinic in July 2025 on behalf of a Pentecostal security guard whose offer to mask and test in place of vaccination was rejected after the clinic questioned the sincerity of his beliefs.20MPR News. Federal Employment Regulators Sue Mayo Clinic Over COVID Vaccine Mandate21EEOC. EEOC Sues Silver Cross Hospital Over Vaccine Mandate22EEOC. EEOC Sues Apple for Religious Discrimination and Retaliation23CNN. EEOC Sues Apple Over Alleged Discrimination Against Jewish Worker
Most matters still resolve through mediation or conciliation before any lawsuit. In FY 2025 the EEOC secured $52.5 million through conciliation alone, up 24% from the prior year.24Gen Re. EEOC Trends and Statistics 2025 Religious freedom is a stated enforcement priority under the current administration, and the agency is participating in the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias established by Executive Order 14202.17EEOC. 200 Days of EEOC Action to Protect Religious Freedom at Work With the Groff standard now embedded in every accommodation analysis, the ceiling on these settlements is going up, not down.