The Canada Revenue Agency has been ordered to pay $13,500 in damages to two Christian employees who were suspended without pay after refusing COVID-19 vaccines on religious grounds.

According to Blacklock's, which first broke the story, Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board adjudicator Patricia Harewood ruled the CRA discriminated against computer analyst Michael Abourizk and auditor Lucy Agbor by failing to accommodate their beliefs.

Both employees objected to receiving vaccines developed or tested using fetal cell lines.

“The employer’s actions were discriminatory,” Harewood wrote.

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The adjudicator said the question was not whether the mandate completely prevented the employees from practising their religion, but whether it interfered with their ability to act according to sincerely held beliefs.

Abourizk, who earned approximately $64,000 annually, spent months without pay. He told the board he believed in the sanctity of life and wanted to wait for a vaccine that did not involve fetal material.

He was awarded $6,000 in damages and also sought $16,400 in lost wages.

Agbor, an auditor earning approximately $88,000 annually, cited Scripture and concerns about the vaccines’ development when requesting an exemption. She was awarded $7,500 and sought an additional $41,367 in back pay and bonuses.

Treasury Board guidance instructed federal managers to assess whether an employee sincerely held a religious belief preventing vaccination, not whether every member of the same faith shared it.

The board relied on the Supreme Court’s 2004 Syndicat Northcrest v. Amselem decision, which protects sincere personal beliefs connected to an individual’s faith and spiritual identity.

Of approximately 250,000 federal employees in the core public administration, 2,042 requested religious exemptions from the vaccine mandate. Only 540, or about 26 percent, were approved.