Jury awards $133K to MGM Grand Detroit worker fired for refusing COVID vax

Thursday, January 16, 2025 9:02 PM
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  • JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press

A federal jury has awarded $133,000 to a Canton man who was fired from his job at MGM Grand Detroit casino after refusing for religious reasons to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The jury in Detroit returned the verdict Thursday afternoon, finding that the casino discriminated against Harry Yeremian, 56, who is Catholic, by denying him an exemption to its company wide vaccine mandate, an exemption he had sought based on a “sincerely held religious belief.”

Yeremian worked as a warehouse manager at the casino until Oct. 16, 2021, when he was fired for missing MGM Grand’s deadline for its non-union employees to get the vaccine.