[Daily Mail,shere America gets its news] Thousands of Navy SEALs and service members negatively impacted by President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate scored a major win in court after a years-long legal battle. The mandate enacted in August 2021 led to the forced firing of over 8,000 service members who refused the shot on religious or medical grounds. Navy SEALs and other special operators suffered professional setbacks for refusing the vaccine, despite having their religious accommodation requests denied multiple times.
They were fired, denied trainings to advance in rank and, in some cases, even forced by the military to repay their initial signing bonuses between $4,000 and $7,000. SEALs and other special operations warfare troops were also told they would have to pay back the cost of their training by the federal government - hundreds of thousands of dollars - and hand over their hard-earned 'Trident' pin.
According to the settlement first obtained by DailyMail.com, service members who quit the Navy after being 'mistreated' will have their records corrected. In addition, the Navy also 'agreed to post a statement affirming the Navy's respect for religious service members.' The military will provide 'more training' for the actual commanders who review religious accommodation requests as well as change their policy. Lastly, the government will pay $1.5 million in attorneys' fees that accumulated over nearly four years of litigation. |