Denver-based Newmont Mining has reached settlements with 12 former employees who were fired in 2021 and 2022 for refusing to comply with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The lawsuits, filed in 2023, involved ten employees from the Victor gold mine, a project director, and a former vice president overseeing North American operations. All claimed religious objections to the vaccine, citing their Christian or Catholic faith. Despite their exemption requests, Newmont denied them and terminated their employment.
One plaintiff, Dan Janney, who worked at the company’s Denver headquarters, was let go on August 4, 2021. Another, Tavis Rogers, a director overseeing a Peru project, was terminated on January 31, 2022. Rogers had asked to work remotely as an alternative but was denied.
The 10 Victor mine workers, with tenure ranging from two to 27 years, were suspended and then fired or resigned after refusing the mandate by a January 2022 deadline. The mandate followed OSHA’s now-defunct Emergency Temporary Standard, which required vaccination or weekly testing for employees of large companies. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the rule in January 2022.
Rogers, in court documents, stated, “I am a Christian. Complying with this mandate would definitely burden my religious exercise because in my faith, my body does not belong to me.” He argued that accepting the vaccine violated his beliefs.
Newmont lifted its mandate months before the lawsuits were filed. While the company defended its policy as lawful and essential for health and safety during the pandemic, it has not commented on the recent settlements.
The legal resolutions came earlier this year—Rogers and the Victor mine workers settled in January, while Janney finalized his case in March. Terms of the settlements remain confidential, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney, Steven Murray.
Newmont, a major player in the global mining industry, sold the Victor & Cripple Creek operation in March for $275 million.
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