Simplot fired them for refusing a COVID vaccine. They sued. What a judge decided

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Two longtime employees of J.R. Simplot Co. took on the Boise-based potato giant over its COVID-19 vaccine policy. But they didn’t get the outcome they were seeking.

Howard Skidmore and Sarah Dance had each worked at Simplot for over two decades, holding leadership roles at the company’s potato processing plant in Caldwell, before they say their careers were cut short when they stood against the company’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

A federal judge in Boise just ruled in the Boise company’s favor by dismissing the two employees’ case, saying the reasons they cited for refusing the vaccine didn’t hold up.

Here’s what a court order from Senior U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill says happened:

In November 2021, as part of its response to the global pandemic, Simplot implemented a policy that required certain employees whose jobs required travel to get the vaccine.

The shots, which were rapidly developed during President Donald Trump’s first term under an initiative called Operation Warp Speed, were made available to the public through an emergency authorization in December 2020. Studies show the vaccines saved millions of lives during the pandemic.

Simplot was concerned at the time that employees in leadership positions, such as Skidmore and Dance, could be called in to fill key plant positions to prevent production delays caused by COVID-19-related staffing shortages. The jobs they held were among those subject to the company’s vaccination requirement.

Skidmore, an engineering manager, initially sought medical and religious exemptions to the mandate. But he couldn’t identify a qualifying medical condition and eventually dropped that request.

Dance, a practicing Catholic, also pursued a religious exemption.

Simplot denied both requests. The company said it decided that Skidmore hadn’t demonstrated that his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine was based on a sincerely held religious belief. And it said that while Dance expressed her commitment to the Catholic faith, she didn’t establish how those beliefs prevented her from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

The company placed them on administrative leave. In January 2022, they were fired. More than a year later, Skidmore and Dance sued Simplot, alleging that they were retaliated against for refusing to get the vaccine.

They argued that Simplot failed to accommodate their religious beliefs and that their firings violated Title VII, a federal law that prohibits employment discrimination based on religion.

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Skidmore also claimed that he suffered age discrimination. He was over 40, the age at which protection begins under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and he was replaced by someone under 40.

Simplot stood firm. The company maintained that neither worker had shown a legitimate religious basis for refusing the vaccine or evidence that age factored into Skidmore’s termination.

In late December, Winmill issued an order granting the company’s request for a summary judgment and dismissing all of Skidmore and Dance’s claims. He dismissed them with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs are barred from filing the same claims again.

Winmill wrote that Skidmore and Dance failed to establish bona fide religious beliefs that conflicted with Simplot’s vaccination requirement. Skidmore’s objections were based on medical concerns, personal preferences and a generalized moral conscience, and Dance’s objections were also grounded in personal conscience, not a religious prohibition, the order said.

“Title VII defines religion to include all aspects of observance and practice, as well as belief,” the judge wrote. “This definition, however, is not limitless and does not encompass secular preferences. Nor does it mean that employers must accommodate personal preferences ‘couched as a bona fide religious belief.’”

Winmill also concluded that Skidmore hadn’t satisfied one element of his age discrimination claim: He couldn’t show that his job was transferred to a less-qualified, younger colleague or that age motivated his dismissal.

Simplot spokesperson Josh Jordan told the Idaho Statesman by email that the company was pleased with the court’s decision. He declined to comment further.

Attorneys for Skidmore and Dance did not respond to a request for comment.