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BEVERLY HILLS (CNS) - A woman hired by a medical equipment manufacturing company is suing the firm, alleging she was wrongfully fired between the time she was given the job and her start date for objecting on religious grounds to the company's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Anna Dadurian seeks at least $250,000 in compensatory damages in addition to punitive damages in her Beverly Hills Superior Court lawsuit brought Tuesday against Circadia Health Inc., in which the plaintiff alleges the company was more receptive to employee medical disability objections to taking the vaccine than to those involving a person's faith.
A Circadia Health representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit, which includes allegations of religious discrimination, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Dadurian was hired as a coordinator on Aug. 13, 2021, and her first day on the job was scheduled 10 days later, the suit states. In between her hiring and start dates, the company told her she would be subject to a mandatory coronavirus vaccination, the suit states.
After learning of Circadia's obligatory vaccine policy, Dadurian, a youth leader at her church, submitted a request for religious accommodation with an explanation of how her religious beliefs prohibited her from receiving the shot, the suit states. She also provided the firm her pastor's contact information.
But on the same day she was told of the vaccination mandate and submitted her objection, Dadurian was fired "seemingly out of the blue," without any attempt to work with her, according to her suit.
"(Circadia) simply terminated an employee whose religious beliefs made her more trouble than she was worth," according to the suit, which further alleges the company believed her stated convictions regarding her faith were not sincere.
Dadurian's suit further states the plaintiff continues to suffer from emotional distress, humiliation, mental anguish and embarrassment because of her firing.