A first grade public school teacher in Culver City says in a new lawsuit that the school district wrongly fired her in violation of her constitutional rights after the district refused her request for a religious exemption to the district's Covid vaccine mandate.
The lawsuit accuses the school district of unjustly denying her request for a religious exemption from its Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Jasa, represented by attorneys Manny Starr and Joseph Toss from Frontier Law, of Calabasas, alleges that the district violated her First Amendment rights to religious freedom, while also violating various sections of the California state constitution and other laws.
According to the complaint, Jasa is a devout Christian and had been a first-grade teacher at Linwood E. Howe Elementary School in Culver City.
According to the complaint, Jasa had submitted a written request for an exemption from the vaccine mandate on Oct. 1, 2021. She allegedly cited a sincere religious objection to taking vaccines developed or tested using cell lines she believed had been derived from aborted fetal tissue. As an alternative to vaccination, she proposed undergoing weekly Covid testing.
However, on Nov. 8, 2021, the school district denied Jasa's request, allegedly without providing any justification. Despite allegedly granting medical exemptions from the vaccine mandate and allowing employees with such exemptions to undergo weekly testing instead of vaccination, the district refused Jasa's request for a religious exemption and subsequent accommodation for weekly testing.
The lawsuit claims Jasa believes the Culver City school district denied her exemption request out of "animus" towards her Christian faith.
She ultimately was "constructively terminated" in 2022, and has not been able to find a new job in education since, the lawsuit states.
Jasa is asking the court to order the district to pay her an assortment of damages, including lost wages, future earnings, and unspecified "general damages," plus interest and attorney fees.